Bass Ackwards
by Enlighten
Summary: Murphy had a plan for her life that didn't involve magic, deception or love. When Tyler comes into her life she takes a step back and asks herself, what would she give up for love? When everything falls apart,will they still have each other? TylerXOC.
1. Back to the Dells

**Disclaimer, I do not owe the Covenant or any of it's characters.**

**Hello everyone and thank you for reading. This chapter is just to start things off and introduce my character and how she interacts with the others. I'm very influenced by music so every chapter will feature a song. The song for this chapter is,**

**"How Could I Forget" by The Faint**

**I hope that you enjoy and please Review!**

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**Bass Ackwards**

**Chapter 1**

**Back to the Dells**

"Get in the car!" my best friend yelled to me as I shut the door to the dorm behind me. Mel wasn't exactly the most patient person in the world. She liked to plan things out and always be places at early. We were headed to a party to kick off the start of the school year, not that it called for any sort of celebration. I guess I wanted to have one more good party before I got my ass handed to me by all the AP classes I'd signed up for. I couldn't even remember why I decided to take them; seniors were supposed to take it easy.

"We're going to be late!" she continued. I always made her late on purpose. Her definition of late was my definition of right on time, besides, who wants to be the first one to a party? I slowly made my way down the front stairs, bending over, pretending to fix the strap on one of my leather sandals. I would do anything I could to stall her; nothing bothered me more than being early.

"Thank you for joining me, I'm so glad you could make it," Mel said sarcastically as I delicately lowered myself in the front seat of her Lexus.

"No problem," I replied smartly. I knew she wasn't really mad at me, but I decided that flattery was the best way to go. "You look good," I complimented her. She really did. Mel was one of those people who didn't realize how beautiful she was. I guess that was a good thing because she was very humble. She was wearing a cute blue halter dress that fell just above her knees. It made her blue eyes pop against her dark hair and tanned skin.

I on the other hand was dressed smartly. The cops almost always busted the parties at the Dells, so I was decked out in my sturdy gladiator type sandals, black shorts, and a white flowing halter top that fell long down to my pockets. It had taken me all of five minutes to get ready. The boys of Spencer Academy were not that impressive. I'd known all of them since freshmen year, and believe me it was a small school. I was over the, 'Mommy and Daddy' name dropping that tended to circuit the upper class conversations around here. After the first two years I stopped trying to get any sort of male attention.

The party at the Dells always kicked off the start of the school year. Almost everyone was moved into the dorms by now and everyone wanted to get caught up on all the summer gossip. I wasn't much of a gossiper ever since there was a nasty rumor spread about me and a certain Son of Ipswich. I just stopped talking to the bitchy group of girls after they all started calling me a slut behind my back. It was a little funny to me, considering I'm a virgin. It would've been really funny if it wasn't so hurtful. I only made out with Reid one time, and I was drunk; I didn't even like it. Of course everyone found out about it, and me being the innocent freshman that I was, cried about it. Now it doesn't bother me so much that I'm known as a stuck up bitch. What the people at Spencer think of me doesn't really matter any more. I just want to graduate and move on to bigger and better things.

Mel parked her car in the woods next to all the other cars and we made our way over to the bonfire. The wind blew colorful leaves around and I shivered. Autumn was on its way. Hopefully the fire would be big enough to heat the whole area. In my last attempt to hang onto summer, I 'd neglected to bring a jacket.

As we trudged over to the cluster of teenagers, the blaring music became louder and louder. There were people dancing and boys trying to prove how tough they were by doing keg stands. I grabbed two drinks and handed one to Mel.

"Here's to another wonderful year at Spencer." I knocked my red solo cup into hers and started to drink it. I wanted to get very drunk tonight. I was just in one of those moods where I didn't want to remember anything. Mel said that she wouldn't drink as much to make sure that I didn't do anything stupid, and so there would be someone to tuck me in at the end of the night.

"Easy there killer, you don't want to choke." I turned around and came face to face with Aaron Abbot. Aaron was easily one of the most arrogant, annoying little punks that scurried the halls of Spencer. I gave him a disgusted look and turned and walked in the other direction; I didn't want to waste my breath saying a single word to him.

I walked around the fire and spotted my old roommate Kate, and some new blond girl. They were dancing and I walked over to say hi. I had genuinely missed Kate over the summer and I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to room with her this year. The way we get roommates is a lottery system, and I wasn't lucky enough to get her name again. I had the unfortunate pleasure of rooming with the always charming and classy Keira. She made me want vomit every time she opened her mouth. Kate saw me and waved me over.

"Hi!" she gushed. "It's so good to see you! How was your summer?" Kate was a genuinely nice person. She was one of the few girls that didn't think I was a stuck up bitch.

"I was in Ireland all summer with my family; it was really nice, really peaceful." I told her. My parents both came from Ireland and all of my relatives lived there. I was born there, but my dad got a job offer that he couldn't refuse and moved me and my mom here when I was 10. I'd been back every summer since.

"What did you do this summer?" I asked her.

"I just hung around home mostly. Me and Pogue had a really good summer together," she informed me. Kate lived in Andover which wasn't to far from here. I wasn't surprised to hear that she and Pogue were still together, they had been inseparable the year before, and I had to admit, they were pretty adorable.

"This is my new roommate Sarah." Kate said introducing me to the blond next to her. I shook her hand.

"Where are you from?" I asked curious.

"I just transferred here from the Boston Public, I'm on scholarship," she responded with confidence. I respected that. Lots of people here were stuck up and would judge her for that. I just thought it made her more interesting. People usually shunned the scholarship students, but I respected them. You knew they were smart for getting the scholarship; they didn't have their parents buy their way in. I think she was testing me to see if I would make a snide remark, and I think I passed.

"That's cool," I responded. She smiled at me. Mel came over and greeted Kate. They grew pretty close last year; Mel practically lived in my room because she had a very sexually active roommate.

Kate was distracted by something over my shoulder. I turned around to see what she was looking at and got my answer.

"Who are they?" Sarah asked with interest.

"The Sons of Ipswich," she responded staring lovingly at Pogue as he approached her. I rolled my eyes. I never really liked the Sons. The whole name thing was an instant turn off. I didn't like Reid for obvious reasons, Caleb seemed too serious all the time, and Tyler never did anything spectacular as far as I was concerned. Pogue was a nice guy though.

As soon as they got too close I turned and walked in the other direction. I still had a goal and that was to get so drunk that I didn't even remember my own name. I walked over to one of the tables and grabbed a drink, not knowing exactly what it was; it tasted like some sort of vodka and some type of soda. Not that it really mattered. I downed three of those and started to feel a little buzzed, so I decided to start dancing.

Dancing was something that I only liked when I was drunk and when I was drunk, I it. The drinks were starting to affect me more and more by the minute and I was lost in myself. It seemed like no one else was there. I don't know how long I was dancing for, when someone came up behind me and put their arms around my waist. It took me a few seconds to react. I turned around and opened my eyes. The face I saw wasn't a familiar one.

"Who are you?" I slurred slightly. I had lost count of how many drinks I'd had.

"Chase," he answered. "I just transferred in." He smiled at me. I didn't like his smile.

"That's lovely," I informed him, and then walked off. He followed closely at my heels. I turned around again, nearly falling over.

"What's your name?" he asked politely.

"Murphy," I answered stupidly.

"What are you doing dancing all by yourself?" he pressed. I knew he was trying to flirt, but it seemed like he was interrogating me.

"I was just leaving," I told him trying my best to look sorry. I probably didn't look too sorry the way my mind was working. Just then there was arguing coming from a few yards away. It looked like Aaron was trying to get into it with Caleb. If Caleb ever fought back against Aaron, he would wreck him; Aaron wouldn't stand a chance, he's just lucky that Caleb was kind of a pacifist. Chase finally left me alone to help break up the fight. I was just waiting for the day that Caleb would punch Aaron right in his stupid face. Aaron always tried to pick fights with Caleb because Caleb was the alpha male of the school and Aaron was just jealous. I wasn't into anyone being called an alpha, but I was just glad that it was Caleb and not one of the other meat headed mama's boys.

Just as Chase put Aaron in his place, one of his goon friends threw up all over him. I thought this was so funny that I doubled over with crazy uncontrolled laughter. Mel crossed over to me and talked some sense into me.

"Murph, you look stupid, you better stop before you pee your pants by accident." She always knew how to shut me up.

Just then the DJ cut the music off. We all knew what that meant. Most people started running before he even said anything. Mel pulled me in the direction of the cars and I wasn't being much of a help. She had to practically drag me as I was still giggling about the whole puke thing.

"Can someone help me please?" Mel begged.

"I've got her," someone said. Before I knew what was happening, Tyler Simms picked me up threw me over his shoulder fireman style. This was a bold gesture considering he had a reputation for being shy. He started laughing when I let out a surprised squeal. I tried unsuccessfully to break free, but I just couldn't stop laughing. He brought me over to Mel's car, and placed me in the passenger's seat. He smirked at me then went to join his friends in his Hummer. I yelled something incoherently at him, and then I blacked out. I don't even remember how I got into the dorms.

I woke up the next morning with a horrible hang over.

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	2. Change of Pace

**Hi everyone! This is chapter 2. Check out my profile for Murphy's character concept.**

**The song for this chapter is: "Rainy Monday" by The Shiny Toy Guns. **

**Please Review!**

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**Chapter 2**

**Change of Pace**

I rolled over with a groan looking at the clock, having one of those 'How did I get here' moments. The clock read 3:30 pm. Closing my eyes with a grunt and rolled back over, defeated. That was as much effort I could exert for the rest of the day. I was fully intending to go back to sleep when Keira came into the room. I groaned again, but this time it was because I didn't want to hear her voice when I was in such a delicate state.

"It looks like someone had a little too much fun last night," she said, scanning me judgmentally. She really could be a huge bitch.

"Yeah, I had a great time," I said sarcastically.

"Well it was a sight to see your head stuck in a toilet," she said in her snarky voice "It was almost as funny as the time you mooned the entire campus last year after the end of the year party." I didn't even realize that I had thrown up, now I knew where that awful taste in my mouth came from. And she just had to bring up the mooning incident. I had the tendency to do stupid things when I was that drunk. Why did I have to get that drunk?

Despite how bad I knew I would feel if I got up, it would be one hundred times better than sitting in there with Keira. I slowly pulled myself up and swung my feet onto the cold floor. I put on a clean t- shirt and shorts, slid on a pair of flip flops, and grabbed some aviator sunglasses.

I made my way down the hall while dialing Mel on speed dial. She answered after two rings.

"Where are you?" I asked

"I'm in the dinning hall eating lunch. Are you up?"

"Yeah I'm walking over there now, I can't believe I threw up, I thought I was doing so well," I whined.

"It was pretty messy, but the only person who saw was Keira," she tried to comfort me.

"That's good I guess, I mean the whole school probably knows by now,"I said sarcastically hanging up the phone without saying goodbye.

I pushed open the heavy dorm doors and stepped out into the sunlight, slipping on my aviators. It was a beautiful day, and the sun warmed my skin. I walked across the campus to the dinning hall and went right into the coffee line. The school had a state of the art coffee bar, complete with its own staff. This was courtesy of someone's parents trying to keep their kid from being expelled, and it must have worked wonderfully, because everyone loved it.

I ordered a black coffee and looked around to find Mel. She saw me and waved, gesturing for me to come over. She was sitting with a boy who's back was to me. I made my way over, keeping my sunglasses on even though I was inside, so no one could see how bad I looked.

"Good morning sunshine," she said with an enthusiasm she knew I hated and I gave her a sarcastic smile. I turned to the boy she was sitting with, and realized that I knew who he was. It was the same boy from last night that tried to dance with me; his name was Chase I think.

"Hi," I said shortly, sitting down next to Mel. I don't know how she met Chase, but he was still as creepy as I remembered from last night. I gave him an awkward nod and sipped my coffee.

"Chase was just saying how he just transferred here from Hastings,"

"So I've heard," I stated. I couldn't put my finger on why he made me so uncomfortable. He wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary but I just couldn't bring myself to stick around. "I'm going to finish unpacking my stuff," I told Mel, I just wanted to get out of there.

I went back to my room but I had no intention of staying there. Keira was still there figuring out where to put her ugly posters on the wall. She looked at me when I came in and rolled her eyes. I ignored her and finished off my coffee. I went into my box of shoes that I hadn't unpacked yet and searched for my running shoes. I changed into a running tank top, and put the shoes on. On my way out I grabbed my old Red Sox hat and my Ipod. Cross country practice started tomorrow and it wouldn't hurt to get some mileage in. I needed to relax anyway, and running was really my only healthy outlet.

As I made my way down the stairs, I ran into Reid Garwin of all people.

"It sure seemed like you had a good time last night," he said smoothly, trying to make me mad. He always did this to me. He was forever trying to get me to go out with him, and I was forever denying him. Although his efforts weren't what the used to be.

"It was quite lovely, thank you," I said in a faux polite voice and brushed passed him. I was sure I wasn't the only person on the whole campus who had thrown up, so why was everyone harassing me about it? He continued to follow me down the stairs. "It would be nice to talk to you and all, but I have some running to do." Before he could respond, I pushed open the door and started running away, putting in my ear buds, but he had had the nerve to follow me. That was alright though. Even though Reid was a fantastic swimmer, he couldn't keep up with me for more than 400 yards, he'd tried before.

"I think I might join you today," he said mid stride.

"Are you sure? It's going to be a long one, I'm thinking 10 miles," I informed him even though I had really only planned on doing five. He wasn't really bothering me, I just wanted to make him tired.

"I think I can keep up." I stared off with a hard pace; I guess I was trying to prove that I was good.

"How was your summer?" He asked after about a mile. I was impressed that he wasn't heaving. He must have been running over the summer.

"It was good I spent it with my family in Ireland," I told him. Despite what I said earlier about the Sons, they were alright most of the time. I spent time with them during the school year because of Kate, but I guess I didn't really consider them my friends, they were more like acquaintances. I could give Reid the benefit of the doubt, there were times when he wasn't a total scum bag like now for instance.

"What did you do this summer?" I asked. I really was curious. He was very mellow right now and I found myself wanting to talk to him.

"I spent my summer here mostly, and the beach. I didn't really want to go any where special. It was fun though. I ran more too, if you can tell."

"I can tell; you're not dead yet, that's a good sign," I joked. We ran along in silence for a while. Every mile I would increase my pace a little; I wanted to sweat out my hangover. Around mile five, Reid dropped out. I looked back and saw him waving me on. He was better, but he still was no runner. The pool was his thing. I put in my head phones back on and turned the music up loud.

A quote from one of my summer assignments popped into my head. "The unexamined life is not worth living." It was one of those things that I paused over and read over and over, trying to find the real meaning. I had to face it, I wasn't happy. Sure I wasn't depressed either, but I could be so much better. As I ran I was trying to see what I could do better.

I was thinking about the party, and it hit me. When I was looking at everyone, I was only pointing out the negative things in them. Like with the Sons. Maybe I really am a stuck up bitch.

It was really hard to admit this to myself, but I did care what other people thought of me. There are people who weren't worth my time, like Aaron and Keira, but there were people who are worth it, and I just hadn't given them the chance. Running with Reid sort of proved that to me. He wasn't being an ass, and he was a real person, and I enjoyed our time. Maybe I could make more friends. The problem isn't other people, it's me. I've spent so much time thinking that I was surrounded by stupid people when really I was the one being stupid. I guess I'd known this for a long time, but it was senior year and I didn't want to leave Spencer with no good memories.

I felt pathetic, but I guess I just hurt my own feelings, because I started crying. This was why I loved running. There was no one to be tough for, and I was stuck talking to myself.

I was coming to the end of my 10 mile loop and could see the school through the cluster of trees at the end of the running path. I had an agreement with my self to be nicer to everyone, even Keira. I jogged back up to my room to get my things for a shower. Keira was still in there, doing a last minute math assignment that should have been done a long time ago.

"Hi," I said surprising her.

"Can I help you?" she answered suspiciously.

"No," I said simply, catching a glimpse of her assignment and recognizing the problem. "It's thirteen over five. You forgot the middle step," I said, giving her the answer as I walked out of the room heading for the showers. I bumped into Kate on my way there.

"Hey," she said "I'm glad I bumped into you. A bunch of us are going to Nicky's in an hour if you want to come?" It was obvious that the Sons would be there, but I decided to go, maybe I could actually be friends with them. Out of all the people at the school, they seemed like the best candidates. We were half way to friendship already.

"Yeah, I just need to take a shower."

"Great! Meet us in the lobby at seven-thirty, we're taking Tyler's car," she told me.

"I'll be there," I said, giving her a wave as I opened the door to the girl's bathroom.

I took a quick shower, so I would have time to dry my hair and went back into the room to see that Keira was no longer there. Even though I was trying to be nicer to her, I was glad to see her gone. I went over to the vanity and dried my hair while listening to the radio. Looking at the clock and seeing that I only had fifteen minutes left, I quickly pulled on a pair of dark skinny jeans, a light white shirt with a low back, and brown riding boots before going back over to the mirror to put on my makeup. I never had much patience for makeup, but today I wanted to make an effort, to show people that I care. I lined my bright green eyes with a brown liner, and then framed them with dark brown mascara. I applied foundation to my pale complexion and some lightly tinted lip gloss and ran a brush through my long blond hair one more time before heading out the door.

I met Kate down in the parking lot with Tyler, Reid and Pogue. She told me that Sarah and Caleb were out and that they would meet us later and climbed into the back seat of the Hummer with Kate. Tyler started the car and I couldn't help but smile as the familiar heavy beat of dubstep filled the massive car.

"Why do you have to listen to this shit? It's just the same beat over and over," Reid whined from the passengers seat, picking up the iPod and attempting to scroll through it.

"No it's not," I spoke up. "It has a lot of depth and a lot of different sounds." I listened to it a lot while I ran.

"Quite from the peanut gallery back there," Reid fought back, with lack of a better comeback.

"She's right dude," Tyler chimed in. "It's really soothing." He caught my eye through the rear view mirror and smiled. Being friends with them is going to be easier than I thought.

We pulled into Nicky's and piled out one after the other. The hummer must have seemed like a party bus the way the music was blaring and how the five of us came stumbling out. The music was still on when we got out of the car because Tyler hadn't gotten out yet, and Kate grabbed my hand and we started to dance very silly attracting the attention of every one in the parking lot. The music stopped abruptly when Tyler turned the car off and Kate and I broke out into hysterics. My night had barley started and I was already having more fun than I expected.

We walked into Nicky's to find it ridiculously crowded. All the Spencer kids were there trying to have a good time before school started the next day.

"It's wicked crowded," Reid complained, "even more than last year and I thought that was bad." Nicky probably wasn't having a good night. He hated having kids in the bar; it took away from his alcohol sales, but there was really nothing he could do about it since it was technically a restaurant and we could be there. It's not like he would go broke on us, I considering how much food the jocks consumed.

We found a table that had just been vacated and took our seats. Reid stood up and looked in the direction of the pool tables.

"I'm going to see if some poor sucker wants to play me; I'm a little short on cash." Tyler nodded to him and Reid went over to the pool tables and started conversing with a few guys who looked like they weren't sure what they were doing.

I sat down and stretched my slightly cramped legs. I hadn't had a chance to stretch after my run and I was starting to feel it now. I looked around seeing the familiar faces of the kids who were at the Dells party. None of them seemed to notice me, and weren't giving me weird looks so I must not have been that bad last night which was a relief.

Kate spotted an empty foosball table.

"You guys want to play?" she asked enthusiastically. I'd never been much good at foosball, but it was fun, and if I had a partner it would be easier. The changing handles part was always hard for me.

"Sure," I said and stood up.

"Me and Pogue vs. you and Tyler." Kate declared, looking between Me and Tyler slyly.

"Oh you're going down," Pogue taunted.

"Nah dude, Murphy here's a champ, besides you know that I always kick your ass every time we play," Tyler retorted.

"Let's see what you've got," Kate said, getting into the tough guy act.

We made our way over to the table and Tyler leaned in and whispered to me.

"I hope you're good. I have a perfect season so far and if we lose, I'm going to have a blemish on my perfect record," Tyler joked.

"I'm alright, but I'm no David Beckham," I said. He smiled at me, then retrieved the ball from the goal and got ready to drop in the center circle.

"Ready?" he asked everyone. We all nodded and he dropped the ball. I was the defense and the goalie; he was the mid fielders and the forwards. He spun the handle around easily gaining possession of the ball. Kate squealed and tried to block his forwards by moving hers. He spun the handle again and sent the ball flying towards the goal where it was blocked by Pogue and sent in my direction. I hit it with my defense-man, passing it up to Tyler's players. He flicked his wrist again and this time the ball connected with the back of the net.

"Yes!" he said and slapped me a double high five. The fun thing about foosball was that you got so excited and jump around, and it takes so much energy, but the only thing in the game that you're moving is your hands. Throughout the game we were all yelling and tilting and jumping up and down. It was more fun than I'd had in a while.

"Just hit it harder baby," Pogue was coaxing Kate. They were down by one and we only needed one goal to win. Pogue was getting frustrated with Kate's dainty hits, and was about to take over the offensive line. We had possession and Tyler was moving in for the final goal.

"Go! Go! Go!" I yelled getting excited. He spun the handle around hard and the ball bounced off the goalie, and rolled into the net.

"Yes!" I exclaimed and jumped up in the air as Tyler lifted me up into a hug.

"Look who's the best now," Tyler said smiling.

"Shut up man," Pogue said, but he was smiling to.

"Sorry I wasn't a better forward babe," Kate said to Pogue.

"It's alright," He smiled and put his arm around her.

This night was going really well. I felt like Tyler, Pogue and Reid really were my friends. Pogue got us all drinks, and Tyler went to go find Reid at the pool tables. I was just sitting back in my chair when Sarah and Caleb came in. Kate smiled and waved them over. What I didn't expect to see behind them was Mel and Chase coming in, hand in hand.

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	3. Good and Bad Dreams

**This is just all the fluffy stuff before the serious stuff happens. I appreciate the reviews and i would appreciate even more :)**

**And for those who were wondering, Murphy has an American accent, sorry if that was confusing. If you have anymore questions please ask.**

**The song for this chapter is: "Turn Into" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.**

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**Chapter 3**

**Good and Bad Dreams**

Mel saw me sitting with Kate and waved. I lifted my hand waved her over, but she winked at me and sat at an empty table with Chase. I really didn't know what bothered me about him so much, but I just had a bad feeling about him. I'd never felt like this about anyone before and it scared me.

I decided to ignore them; I'd talk to Mel later.

Caleb and Sara came over to our table and sat down at the chairs we pulled up for them.

"Hey man," Caleb greeted Pogue with a handshake. He pulled out a chair for Sarah to sit on, and then sat down next to her. He nodded to both me and Kate, and then turned to look adoringly at Sarah. They were adorable, and I couldn't help but be a little jealous of her. Not of Caleb exactly, but of her obviously falling in love. It was something that I had never done, and I thought I could wait for, or even live without it. I'd never been a believer in true love, or love at first sight, it all seemed fake to me. It seemed like it was an infatuation, nothing more. My parents were a prime example of that. They were so in love and now they can barely even stand to be in the same room together. The only reason why they wouldn't get a divorce was because they were strictly catholic. Looking at Sarah and Caleb and the obvious adoration, gave me hope. Maybe one day I could feel happy just to be with someone.

Someone came up behind me and put their arm around my shoulders. I looked up and saw Tyler grinning down at me and I smiled back. I couldn't help but notice how incredibly blue his eyes were. He really was a nice guy. He unwrapped his arms from around my shoulders, and took the empty seat next to me and stole a sip of the water that Pogue had brought me.

"Hey," I complained playfully. "I wasn't done with that, your going to give me cooties." He pretended to be offended.

"Me? Cooties? Never. I think I got my shot for life about two hundred times back in the second grade. I think I'm all set. You have nothing to worry about," he assured me jokingly. "Reid on the other hand, you can never be too careful." Just as Tyler mentioned Reid, he came sauntering over to the table and ironically picked up my water to take a sip. I started laughing of course, but this time I wasn't alone; Tyler was laughing right along with me.

Reid just looked at us like we were crazy, and rolled his eyes.

"I just managed to hustle two hundred bucks from some armature loser over there," Reid bragged.

"Wow, now you can go buy yourself a real girlfriend," I said sarcastically. I knew that he had a sarcastic senses of humor and I wanted to tease him to gain acceptance and show that I could hold my own. Everyone laughed except for Reid.

"I guess you think you could do better?" Reid challenged.

"Of course I can't. I was just admiring you and your skills that's all," I teased back. He was so easy to fluster and I couldn't help myself.

"If you'd excuse me, I have some ladies that are interested in this," he gestured to himself as he started to walk off.

"Be careful!" I yelled after him. "Don't pull a hammy over it!" He turned around and flipped me off in a loving way and turned to talk to a dark haired girl. Everyone at the table started laughing.

"You put him in his place," Kate said, while Pogue gave me a high five.

"No one usually dares to talk to him like that; they're usually too intimidated to say anything mean to him." Tyler informed me.

"I'm not afraid of Reid," I said, proud of myself. I was happy that I was getting along with everyone. Over all I was having more fun than I'd had in a while, but Chase kept gnawing on the back of my mind. I couldn't place what I didn't like about him, but I couldn't get the thought out of my head. I looked over to Mel and Chase's table and saw them talking with their heads very close together. She let out a burst of laughter and he took hold of her hand across the table. If it was anyone else, it would have been cute but this sudden display of affection repulsed me. I looked away to find Tyler looking at me curiously.

"Do you know that guy?" He asked me, seeing me staring not so stealthily at the other table.

"I met him last night. Does he seem a bit off to you?" I asked more blatantly than I should have. There was something about Tyler that made me want to trust him.

"No. I met him to and he seemed pretty chill. I mean he got in between Aaron and Caleb, not like Aaron would have done any damage, but still, he seemed like a decent enough guy." This made me feel bad about judging him so quickly. Maybe Tyler was right; maybe I was just overreacting.

My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar song blaring through the jukebox. It was one of my favorites.

"I love this song!" I said, turning around to look at the jukebox and the notes of Turn Into by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs filtered through the speakers. It was such a relaxing song that I instantly forgot about my best friend and the potential psycho.

"Dance with me?" I asked Tyler extending my hand.

"Sure if you want. You can't say I didn't warn you though; I'm a horrible dancer."

He took my hand and I lead him to the dance floor. I was always different hearing one of your favorite songs on the radio, through a jukebox, or in a club. It was always more exciting and I could never figure out why. I was pumped to hear the song, and even more pumped to be dancing with a hot boy, who until recently I found to be boring. Now, I realized, he was anything but.

The song ended and everyone at the table got up to get ready to leave. Tyler led me back to the table.

"School tomorrow," Kate groaned. "The summer always ends way too soon." She leaned her head on Pogue's shoulder sleepily. It was only eleven o'clock, but I was feeling drowsy. Droaning teacher and stiff backed seats was something that none of us were looking forward to.

We made our way to the parking lot and parted ways with Caleb and Sarah, who got into Caleb's Mustang. The rest of us piled into Tyler's roomy Hummer. He peeled out of the parking lot, stereo blaring.

"Oh come on!" Reid complained. "Not this shit again. We listened to this on the way up, now we need to listen to something that's not gay, Baby Boy," he picked up Tyler's iPod and scrolled through the artists until he found one he liked. He put the iPod back in its holder and waited for a new sound to fill the car.

"This isn't mine," Tyler said referring to the metal song that was now playing. "I didn't put it on here."

"Someone had to help out with your shity music selection," Reid defended.

"Seriously dude, you know I fucking hate it when you do that," Tyler retorted. They were bickering like an old married couple and it was sort of cute. When we pulled into the parking lot, they were still fighting.

"All I'm saying is just ask me before you touch my stuff," Tyler continued, calmly.

"And I'm telling you," Reid rebutted," that I was only doing you a favor." Reid's argument was weak, but Tyler was the one to drop it.

"Whatever man," he sighed.

We got out of the car and made our way back to the dorm building. Kate, Sarah and I all lived on the third floor, while all the guys lived on the forth floor. We walked up the long winding staircase of the old, slightly creepy building. When we reached the third floor, we said goodnight to the boys.

"I had a lot of fun; we should do it again sometime," I told them.

"Definitely," Tyler said and he came over to give me a quick hug. I felt my stomach do a back flip at his touch and it took me by surprise, but it was a pleasant surprise. I waved to Pogue, Reid and Kate and moved to unlock my door. I was relieved to see that Keira wasn't there yet, and went to change into a pair of shorts and a tank top for bed. The last thing I remembered thinking about was a certain boy with bright blue eyes.

My dreams that night weren't very pleasant. The blue eyed boy never showed up much to my dismay. However a different boy entered my dreams. My dreams had always been eccentric and a little random, but this dream was pretty straight forward in the worst way possible.

I was standing alone on the top of a roller coaster. I didn't know where the car was, and I didn't know how to get down. I looked around, but the place was abandoned; I was completely alone. There was a sudden rumbling and the car was coming into view. It was inching its way up the hill with the slow clicking making me nervous. Shouldn't I be happy that someone was coming to save me?

The car was half way up the hill and I could see two people in it but I couldn't see who they were. The car inched closer and closer, finally making it to the top. I could see that Mel was in the car, along with Chase. Mel looked scared and she was whimpering with tears streaming down her face. Chase smirked at me.

"Get in the car, we'll bring you down," he commanded in a pseudo friendly voice, but I didn't want to get in the car. I would rather jump off the roller coaster than go down with him. I was about to tell him so when Mel interrupted me.

"You can get in, it's alright," she said, but her eyes told me the opposite. I wasn't going to take her advice, but when I blinked I was in her place and Mel was gone. I craned my neck around to see if I could find her but I couldn't.

I could hear her screaming and goosebumps appeared on my skin at the sound but I didn't know where she was. She disappeared; it was like magic.

The car began to move again, shifting into motion. We began to descend, but as we rolled to the crest of the hill, I didn't see what I expected. I didn't see the coaster track or the bottom of the hill. What I saw was a black hole.

I began to scream. I had never been so scared in my life. We were falling and spinning out of control. This wasn't some fun ride; this was a trip into the depths of hell. I could see the flames shooting up at us and I could see the souls of people who had descended before us. I was so scared. I was going to die I was sure of it.

All I could hear was Chase laughing this sickening humorless laugh. I closed my eyes and waited for the heat to come, but it never did. Suddenly I felt like I couldn't breathe; like I was being smothered. I heard Keira's voice calling my name. What was she doing here? Could she save me?

"Murphy!" she yelled and I awoke with a start. I sat up straight and took in my surroundings. I was so relived to see Keira's face, that I almost reached out and hugged her.

"You are such a freak! You were making these weird noises so I threw a pillow at you but then you just looked like you were choking. You better get up; your alarm went off like a half an hour ago," she said all the while a sneer present on her face.

"Thanks for waking me up on time!" I was pissed. I care about school more than anything, and being late on my first day wasn't exactly the first impression I was looking to make.

I grabbed my shower caddy and nearly sprinted to the bathroom. Girls were filing out already so clearly I was late. I took the fastest shower known to man and threw on my uniform. I was lucky that my hair naturally dried in an under control manner. I was proud of myself for getting ready so fast, and Ieven had enough time to grab some coffee before class started.

My dream was almost forgotten by the time I reached the coffee bar. My mind was full of thoughts of last night and how much fun I had. I spotted Tyler sitting at a table in the corner by himself, and I decided to go over and say hi.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" I asked, not waiting for a response before sliding into the seat across from him. I had to admit, I was harboring a little crush on him. He was hot, and he was nice to me. I had my suspicions that he was an undercover bad ass and that made me like him even more.

"Go for it," he responded smiling at me. "I'm just waiting for the guys to get here. Reid wakes up about five minutes before class so we shouldn't be expecting him any time soon, and Caleb and Pogue should be here any minute." He continued to drink his coffee and I couldn't help but notice that he put so much cream in it, that it barley had any traces of the brown coloring left. I giggled a little and he eyed me suspiciously.

"What's so funny?" He asked curiously. "I know I'm funny looking but jeeze, you could have at least pretended to think I was attractive," he joked. I laughed at his sarcasm. It was a breath of fresh air in this stuck up, stuffy school.

"Is that even coffee you're drinking?" I asked playfully. "It looks more like milk to me."

He let out a small laugh. "I hate coffee, but I guess I'm addicted to caffeine. Putting this much milk in it sort of off sets that awful taste," he informed me.

"That sucks, but I have to disagree. I love the taste of coffee, and I guess I'm addicted to," I said showing him my black coffee. He made a disgusted face and I laughed.

"Did you pick up your schedule yet?" he asked me.

"No I haven't been down to the main office yet,"

"Do you want to go get them? I haven't seen mine either."

"Don't you want to wait for everyone else?"

"No, they won't miss me." We picked up our stuff and I chucked my empty cup into the trash can and followed him out. On our way to the office, we passed Chase walking in the opposite direction. He nodded to me with this weird look on his face. I got the chills and Tyler looked over at me.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah, it's just that Chase guy, he gives me the creeps," Tyler looked back over his shoulder at Chase and shrugged.

"He seemed pretty alright to me," he stated, and we continued to walk toward the office.

We walked through the doors and there was only a short line so we didn't even have to wait a minute to get our schedules. The plump secretary handed mine to me with a smile which I returned. I took the paper from her and let out a little groan.

"Kill me now," I said dramatically as Tyler took my overly cluttered schedule.

"It can't be that bad," he told me, but that was before he looked at my paper. "Never mind I lied. This is kind of overwhelming, what are you some kind of genius?

"Not exactly. My guidance councilor sweet talked me into all the AP's." I looked down and Tyler held the two schedules next to each other with mine on the left and his on the right.

_AP English/ Honors Calculus_

_AP History/ AP History_

_AP Physics/ Honors English_

_AP French/ Honors Anatomy_

_AP Economics/ AP Economics _

_AP Journalism/ Honors Psychology_

_Gym/ Gym_

"We have a few classes together. History and economics." he observed. "Oh look, we have gym last period every day, that's the best."

"Thank God being a senior counts for something so they give us the good gym period. Will you be my gym partner?" I asked him, giving him my best undercover flirty look.

"Sure, as long as you're better at volleyball than you are at foosball," he joked. I playfully smacked him in the arm. We left the office just as the bell rang and I headed off to English while Tyler went to History.

"I'll see you later," I told him. "Don't miss me too much."

"It's going to be hard, I mean when will I ever see you again," he joked. I smiled at him and walked in the opposite direction. I could feel his eyes on my back side and I smiled to myself. Eleven years of cross country and track didn't count for nothing. I pretended I didn't notice and continued walking. I didn't want to embarrass him by calling him out.

I entered the class room and took a seat near Sarah and Caleb. As I settled in I felt someone sit next to me. I turned around to see who it was and was horrified to see that it was Chase. All the thoughts of my dream came flooding back to me and I could feel my face turn sheet white.

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**Thank you for reading! Please review!**


	4. The Right Way

**Hi everyone! This is mostly just a cute chapter about Murphy's relationships with everyone are growing and how she's becoming attached to them.**

**The song for this chapter is "Soft Shock" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.**

**I've linked pictures of Murphy, the other OC's cars and a few other things in my profile. If it has a chapter number on it, don't look at it because it's a spoiler. I've also linked youtube videos for all of the songs for this story in my profile.**

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**Chapter 4**

**The Right Way**

The class room was practically empty, why did Chase have to sit next to me out of all the places he could have sat? He made me uncomfortable and there was no way in hell I would be sitting next to him for the whole year. I took my stuff and swiftly moved to the other side of Sarah so there was an empty seat next to Caleb. I didn't care if he thought I was rude, I needed to move. I could tell he saw the look on my face when he sat next to me and knew perfectly well that I didn't like him. Good maybe he would leave me alone.

I could tell that this year was going to be hard before the first day was even over. We had a test in English on the summer reading, which I thankfully did. There was going to be so much writing in that class which I didn't really mind, but it would be very time consuming.

History was next, and it wasn't so bad. This was a class that I could say that I was looking forward to for a few different reasons one being that I'd always liked history. Tyler, Pogue and Reid were in this class too. I sat between Tyler and Pogue, with Reid on Tyler's other side in the back of the room. How Reid managed to get into AP, I couldn't guess. Since we were so high up in the auditorium style seating we could get away with talking almost freely. There was no way the ancient teacher could hear us all the way up here.

Since it was the first day, we didn't do anything and that was a relief. I sat in the back with the boys and we started talking about schedules and classes we were ready to hate. It turned out that both Reid and Pogue were in gym last period along with me and Tyler. That was going to be fun. I was quick to inform Reid that Tyler was my partner.

"What!" That's bullshit! Baby Boy's been my gym partner forever!" He really looked hurt, and I thought it was funny; apparently Reid's kryptonite was Tyler. "See if I ever pick either of you for my dodge ball team."

"Sorry, but, you're going to have to deal with it," I said playfully.

"I'll live girly, I promise you." He was trying to be funny now by checking me out and I rolled my eyes. Now that I knew he was harmless I could relax when he joked with me like that. A few minutes of silence passed as the teacher read out the attendance list and I tried to think of something to say. I hated silences, they make me uncomfortable. I couldn't even sit in my room in silence. I even had one of those pathetic sound soothers that played a continuous loop of ocean waves crashing so I could get to sleep at night.

"Whens the next party?" I asked, for lack of anything else better to say. Reid smirked at me. I knew this was right up his alley; he was always throwing or promoting parties.

"I'm having one this weekend at my place. My mom is away again. It should be fun. Have you ever been to one of my parties before?" Reid asked and I blushed. I had been to one of his parties before and it had been the first and last of his parties I had been to. I'd embarrassed myself beyond belief. "Oh yeah you have. I remember now." He looked at me and licked his lips and I wanted to sink into the floor and die. It's not like we'd even done very much, but it was enough to regret and to pretend like it never happened.

Thankfully the bell rang and we all got up to leave. I said goodbye to the boys and made my way to my next class. The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully. Caleb was in my AP Physics class, and we were assigned to be lab partners. Next was AP French with Sarah and Pogue. Then I had AP Economics with Tyler. Next was AP Journalism with Kate. This was a class I was looking forward to. I want to major in Journalism so this was going to be fun. By gym I was exhausted. It was only the first day and I was already loaded with work. Having gym last period was a relief because we got to play whatever game we wanted and got credit just for changing. It was a nice break between school and cross country practice.

I changed quickly and was one of the first people out in the gym. I started stretching while I was waiting for everyone else to come out of the locker room. Pogue was first out of the locker room followed by Tyler and Reid. Mr. Kaste, the gym teacher, came out of the locker room last, quickly taking attendance and then telling us to jog for two minutes.

"We get to pick what games we want to play this year," Tyler informed me while we were jogging. He was excited like the rest of the boys. This was going to be a fun gym class.

"Everyone better vote for dodge ball," Reid said with a threatening look at me.

"You've got my vote," I said with a look of mock fear on my face.

"I hope you're not on my team so I can hit you in the ass with a ball," He replied smartly, jogging away.

Mr. Kaste, blew his whistle and we stopped running. "What do you want to play today?" He asked. Reid immediately said dodge ball and most of the class agreed. One person feebly suggested capture the flag, but it was no use. Dodge ball it was.

"Alright, team captains…. Abbot! And…. Murphy!" Mr. Kaste said. Damn it. I hated being the one to do the playground picking. I went to the middle of the gym and stood next to Aaron who looked at me like I was an idiot; like I really cared about a stupid game of dodge ball.

"Ladies first," Mr. Kaste said, indicating that I should pick first.

"Tyler," I said, obviously. Aaron picked one of his meat head friends. We went back and forth until the whole class was on one team or the other. I ended up with Tyler and Pogue on my team, while Reid was pissed off that he ended up on Aaron's team.

"Sorry," I said, "I just found someone more valuable."

"It's okay, you're gonna lose anyway." We spent the next hour hurling balls back and forth to the other team. I didn't really throw any because I had bad aim, and it would move so slow that the other team would defiantly catch it. I did catch a ball that Aaron threw and that pissed him off. Reid 'accidentally' hit me smack in the rear end with one of the balls. In return Pogue 'accidentally' hit him in the face. In the end it was a draw, two games to two games.

After I changed I met up with the boys outside of the locker rooms. We all headed back to the dorms to get ready for our practices; they were going to swim practice and I was going to cross country.

"Are you going to be around later?" Tyler asked me.

"I have a lot of work to do after practice, why?"

"We're all going to hang out in the common room later if you want to come. We might be doing work, but probably not." I knew that I probably shouldn't go, but hanging out with everyone was something that I wasn't about to pass up.

"Yeah I think I can hang out for a little while." It was against my better judgment, but what the hell, it wouldn't kill me.

"I'll see you later then?" He asked.

"Yeah." He seemed like he really wanted to hang out with me, and that made me excited. I felt like I was thirteen years old again with a little crush. I giggled to myself as I walked down the hall and entered my room. I put on a pair of shorts and a running tank top, and grabbed my shoes. I picked up my plastic water bottle from the floor and filled it in the bathroom sink.

As I walked over to the back field, and the running trails behind the dorms, I bumped into Mel. She was heading over to field hockey practice and I had forgotten that we didn't have any classes together. She, like most people, was taking senior year easy.

"I missed you today," she said putting an arm around me.

"I missed you to," I said sadly. "I didn't even get to hang out with you last night."

"Oh yeah, Chase and I were hanging out earlier that day, and we sort of clicked I guess." I smiled and tried to look happy for her, but I really wasn't. She was so excited for herself, that she didn't notice my smile was fake. She was babbling on about how nice and wonderful he was. "A true gentleman." I really wanted her to stop talking. We made it to the front field where the field hockey practice was, and parted ways.

"I'll talk to you later," I told her. She smiled at me and then turned around to join her team mates.

I walked over to the group that was forming in the back field, and stood next to them. We went of the familiar routine of "How was your summer?" and "I missed you during the off season." That was a lie; when you ran for a team as serious as Spencer, there is no off season. Coach came over to us and gave the usual first practice of the year speech. The whole, "This is a team sport," and "You need to come to practice every day," and the dreaded "If you are caught partying, you will be kicked off." That was also a lie. Coach didn't like partying, that was true, but if we did get caught, she wouldn't kick you off if you were an asset to the team. If you're good, you can pretty much do what ever you want.

"Now for this years team captains." I had forgotten that just the other day I was telling Mel how much I wanted to be captain. My heart was pounding hard and fast. I wanted this so bad. "The boy's captain is William Madison. The girl's captain is Murphy Riley." Will and I both stood up and we were congratulated by applause. I had a stupid looking grin on my face, but I couldn't help it, I was happy.

"Alright, alright!" Coach said cutting off the clapping. "Do a warm up of two miles, I don't care where you run, then come back here. The vets, will be doing, timed mile, eight-hundred, four-hundred, eight-hundred, mile, two mile. I'll decide what the new kids are doing when everyone gets back." This was a speed work out so it wouldn't be too bad. I felt bad for the new kids; Coach always went hard on the first day to weed out all the quitters.

The work out was exhausting, but I was still looking forward to hanging out with Tyler. I was in an over all good mood, due to the exercise, captain-ship, and hanging out with everyone later. Despite all the work I had, this year looked like it would be a good one.

I went up to my room, took a quick shower, put on some comfortable but cute clothes, and went down to meet everyone. It was relaxing. We were all just kicking back and enjoying each others company. I was laughing and joking with everyone, like I had been friends with them forever and they made feel comfortable in a way that I hadn't ever felt with other people. Kate was still a total sweetheart, and Sarah proved to be funny and outgoing. Pogue was a perfect match for Kate. He was mellow and laid back, the perfect counter to her bubblyness. Caleb was different from what I expected. He actually had a sense of humor for one, and when I hung out with him he wasn't really a know it all. He wasn't as serious as I thought, and he was really laid back. Reid was still Reid, but I was learning to appreciate his sense of humor. He was still a pompous ass hole, but a lovable one. And then there was Tyler. He was by far the Son that I had miss judged the most. He _was_ spectacular. He was full of life and I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Every time he smiled at me I felt like I'd aced a test or won States.

The rest of the week passed by smoothly. I was hanging out with the Kate, Sarah and the Sons more, and Mel less. I found myself not really missing her. Every time I saw her with Chase I cringed.

The weekend finally came, and it was time for Reid's party. I had to admit I was excited to go. Things between me and Reid had changed and I wasn't so embarrassed by what had happened; it's not like I was the only one considering a very similar thing had happened to Kate.

I arrived with Kate in Sarah in my car and pulled into the circular driveway of a massive house. It looked old, and had about a million windows. It was just how I remembered it. I looked around at the other cars, and spotted what I was looking for; Tyler's Hummer. I couldn't help but smile. Kate noticed and gave me a look.

"What?" I asked, threatening her to say something.

"Nothing," she said. I knew that she noticed me looking for his car, and she knew about my crush. She had been suspecting me all week, but my blush just confirmed it.

The three of us walked up the steps and into the house together. No one ever knocked at Reid's parties; they were open invitation. As we walked through the door, we were greeted by an already slightly drunk Reid. He put his arms round both me and Sarah, and attempted to kiss us on the tops of our heads.

"Hello my beautiful ladies," he said, looking particularly happy.

"It's nice to see you too," I said, gently taking his arm off of me as I moved away leaving him there with Sarah and Kate. He was telling them that all the alcohol was free and that later, if they were good he was even going to show them his bedroom. They laughed at him, as Pogue came up and put his arms around Kate's waist. Caleb came over and rescued Sarah by asking her to dance. She gave him a grateful smile.

I found Tyler finishing a game of beer pong with a few other guys. He, like Reid, was already a bit drunk.

"Hi!" he said a little too loudly and I couldn't tame the smile that spread across my face.

"Hi," I said back sipping on some drink that Reid insisted on making for me. It had an energy drink in it, and I was probably going to be off the wall in a few minutes.

"Want to dance with me?" he asked. I was surprised since he claimed he was a bad dancer, but he wasn't that bad.

"Okay," I said, finishing off my drink. He took my hand and led me over to the makeshift dancefloor. He took my waist and we moved to some new rap song. My heart was beating so fast, I thought it was going to fly right of my chest. I wouldn't be surprised if he could hear it even over the loud bass coming form the speakers.

When the song was over, we left the dance floor to get more drinks. I could feel the one Reid had made me and I wanted another one. I looked over to ask if he would make me another, when I saw him macking it to a dark haired girl that I didn't recognize. I didn't want to bother him so I made one myself. I went behind the bar and filled my glass half way with 151, and filled the rest with coke. This would be enough to get me pleasantly intoxicated while allowing me to still make good choices.

Tyler grabbed my hand again and we dragged me back on the dance floor. I tripped a little and be both started laughing. We found Sarah and a stumbling Caleb on the dance floor. It was funny to see the cool, calm, and collected Caleb being goofy. We danced for a while longer and it was really fun. Finally it got really hot in there and I asked Tyler if he wanted to go outside. He said yes, and led me through the crowd to the back door.

We escaped into the cool breeze of the porch and I looked up at the clear night sky. It was still pretty warm out since the autumn chill hadn't had time to settle in yet. We were alone and I still had enough sense to see that this was romantic. Tyler spotted the open pool and looked at me playfully. I knew what he was about to do but in my drunken haze, I didn't do anything to stop him. Even if I wasn't drunk, I don't think I would have stopped him.

He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder just like he had that night at the Dells. I let out a small scream and a laugh. I was so hot and the water would feel so nice. He swung me down and dropped me in the pool. I sat under the water for a few seconds before coming back up. I had a mouth full of water and I spit it at him.

"Hey!" he said, wiping the water off of his face.

"You threw me in, you deserve it. Why don't you come in? The water's really nice." He walked over to the other side of the pool and got on the diving board. He kicked off his shoes and jumped up and down a few times, then leaped sideways, a bit clumsily into the water. He swam the length of the pool under water, then came up next to me in the shallow end. As he came up he spit water in my face.

"Hey!" I exclaimed and retaliated by splashing him. He splashed me back and it was war. He picked me up and dropped me back in the water. I came up laughing. When I surfaced, he was looking at me. He wasn't staring rudely or perverted or anything, it seemed like he was just taking me in. His brilliant blue eyes traced my face and I savored the moment.

"You are beautiful," he said simply. Smiling was an understatement, I was beaming.

"You are to," I said stupidly. He let out a small laugh and reached out and touched my face. Our eyes locked. I was so lost in his clear blue eyes, that I barley noticed him leaning towards me. When our lips met I was surprised, but pleased. I put my arm around his neck, and the other one on his back. He deepened kiss by opening my mouth and slipping his tongue in mine. We stayed like that, for I didn't even know how long, but my toes started to prune and I was getting cold, but I couldn't stop, I didn't want to stop. He noticed me shivering and much to my dismay, he pulled away.

"Do you want to go in?" he wasn't drunk anymore, and but I still a little, but mostly I was tired.

"No I want to stay out here with you." I sounded like a little kid whose parents wanted to put them to bed early.

"I'll come with you," he assured me.

"Do you promise?" I asked, concerned. I didn't want to be separated from him, not even for a second.

"I promise," he said, kissing me again sweetly. He lifted me up and placed me on the edge of the pool, before getting out himself. I was so tired, I couldn't move. Once he was out of the pool, he picked me up and carried me bridal style back into the house. Everyone was gone except for Reid, Caleb, Sarah, Pogue and Kate who were all spending the night. He brought me up the stairs and into a bedroom.

"The spiked energy drinks must have made you crash," he said, while digging through some draws, which I guessed were Reid's. He found a t-shirt and some shorts and brought them over to me as he went into the conjoining bathroom. I changed out of my wet clothes quickly and dumped them unceremoniously onto the floor.

Tyler came out of the bathroom wearing some of Reid's clothes as well.

"Are you alright?" he asked as I flopped down on the big bed.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," I told him with a smile. I cuddled into Reid's bed.

"Okay, I'll let you go to sleep then," he said, heading toward the door.

"No! I want you to stay. Will you stay with me?" I asked a little desperately. I didn't want him to go. I wanted him to stay with me forever.

"Alright," he said with a laugh. "Move over." I moved over on the bed and he got in next to me. I shifted closer to him and put my head on his chest. He put his arms around me. I had never felt so comfortable in my life. I fell asleep almost instantly, and dreamed of our kiss over and over again.

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**Please review, it means the world. **


	5. Out of Control

**Hello! This chapter has to do with Murphy's internal struggle and her growing relationship with Tyler. I had so much fun writing this chapter, and I hope that you have fun reading. Thank you for the reviews and I hope that you all continue to like the story.**

**There are two songs for this chapter because it's a bit longer. They are:**

**The Walk, by Imogen Heap and Viva la Vida, by Coldplay- the links are in my profile.**

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**Chapter 5**

**Out of Control**

I woke up the next morning knowing exactly where I was. I remembered everything from the night before. As I rolled over and looked at Tyler's sleeping form, I couldn't help but let a huge smile come over my face. He looked like a sleeping Michelangelo statute come to life. I'd never felt this way before and I was a little scared. What if we didn't work out? Was this really what falling in love felt like? I was so mixed up with emotions that I felt the smile slowly slide off my face. There was such a mix of hot and cold emotions battling inside me that I started to feel claustrophobic. The sheets were wrapped too tightly around my legs and the walls were closing in on me.

I stood up and placed my feet on the fluffy blue carpet of Reid's bedroom and let out a deep breath. Walking over to the door I paused, glancing back at Tyler before I left. I walked to the end of the hall way, passing closed doors with my sleeping friends behind them. I went down the grand looking staircase that I remembered all too well being carried up the night before. I walked through the kitchen and into the back yard to the pool. It was a beautiful morning and I could hear the birds chirping. It was early, I guessed about seven. I sat down by the pool and put my feet in the water.

I let my mind go which I didn't do very often. Every thought and emotion was ripping through my head at warp speed. I'd always been the kind of person who needs to be in control of everything and I was scared because for the first time in a long time, I wasn't in control and I was scared. I had always functioned independently even when I was a little kid and for someone to come into my life who I wanted to let in was daunting. I felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff with a backpack, hoping that when I pulled the rip cord a parachute would pop out.

This felt like more than just a stupid crush and I had to admit it was a little embarrassing to think that I was in love with someone that I'd only kissed once, but it was what it felt like. I had a plan for my life. I was going to do well in school, go to Harvard, and become a top journalist. That was my dream, that was what I'd always wanted even if I hadn't always understood why. In no way did falling in love come into play in that plan, at least not for a long time. I always thought that this would come later, but I guess it came sooner than I expected. The question was, would I take the chance? I'd always been afraid of being one of those girls who changed their plans and dreams to fit around what their boyfriend wanted. I always looked down on them because I never knew how they felt.

I wouldn't give up on all I had worked for. Maybe I could go on some dates with him, but I wouldn't under any circumstances fall in love with him. I couldn't.

The lack of control I was feeling was really freaking me out. I would show how in control I could be. I wasn't going to fall in love. I said it, and I could do it.

I had to think of something else, something I had control over. What was I going to eat for breakfast? What was I going to do today? These were things I could handle.

I realized then that I was starving.

I got up, looking at my feet as I pulled them out of the water. I must have been in there for a long time, because my feet had started to prune. I whipped my feet on the mat just inside the door, and walked into the kitchen. To my surprise, Kate and Pogue were sitting at the kitchen table, eating cereal.

"You want some?" Pogue asked me with a mouth full of food. The way his mouth looked would put anyone off of cereal for life.

"No thanks," I said reaching for a piece of fruit as I took a seat at the table. "I'm in training."

He let out a laugh and went back to his cereal. I looked around the kitchen and realized that it was spotless. When I had walk by earlier on my way to the pool, it looked like a bomb had hit it.

"It looks like someone was visited by the cleaning fairy," I observed. Pogue looked at me and swallowed his food this time before he decided to speak.

"Reid always gets up early to clean his house. He works really good under pressure you know."

"I should get him to clean my room for me… he must be so fast."

"Yeah," he said shortly to finish off the conversation.

I heard someone coming to the door of the kitchen and looked up. Sarah came through the door wearing a big t shirt and some boxer shorts.

"Nice outfit, where did you get it?" I said sarcastically.

"I could say the same for you," she laughed. We were wearing almost the same outfit, only my boxers were blue, and hers were red.

"How was your night?" Sarah asked in a suggestive tone. "I never heard Tyler come out of Reid's room."

"You spent the night with Tyler!" Kate asked, full excitement was in her voice.

"Not like that," I shut her down immediately giving her a look so she would keep her voice down. "He was just looking out for me, I was pretty far gone." This was sort of a lie. I was drunk, but not that drunk. I remember everything, and I didn't do anything too stupid.

"Not like what?" an all to familiar voice said, stepping into the kitchen. Of course Tyler had to pick that moment to show up.

"Nothing!" I said at the exact same time Kate said, "That you and Murphy spent the night together!"

"What are your intentions?" Sarah asked, sounding like a concerned father. Tyler laughed at her.

"They're good ones I promise, _sir_." he replied jokingly. I laughed grateful that he had a sense of humor about the situation. He looked at me and we made eye contact andI blushed a little as I looked into his clear blue eyes. It seemed like every time I looked at him, he got more and more beautiful.

"I am starving!" Reid yelled as he made his grand entrance into the kitchen. Caleb was following close behind.

"If you were really starving Reid, you would be dead," Caleb said matter of factually. He was trying to annoy Reid and it was working.

"You know what I mean," he said to Caleb and rolled his eyes. "Hey woman!" he said to me. "Make me some waffles!"

"I would love to, but I'm pretty sure the rules are, who ever does the cleaning also does the cooking," I said back sarcastically. He looked at me like he didn't know what I was talking about, and then he said,

"Yeah well we all have our talents. You know I could clean your room for you. I won't ask for cash or anything, just a few favors," he looked me up and down. I rolled my eyes at him, and then threw the box of Wheaties at him.

"I hate Wheaties, it's for old people," he complained.

"Don't talk shit about Wheaties," Pogue said. "I love Wheaties." With that comment Tyler burst out laughing which made me laugh.

We all sat down together and ate our breakfast in relative peace. We were all laughing and joking together about the party the night before and it felt like I had been friends with them forever. I looked at the clock and realized that it was one in the afternoon. Reluctantly I told them I had to get back to Spencer. I had a bunch of homework to do.

I went upstairs to get my clothes from the night before. I found them on the floor and they were still a little damp from the pool. I heard someone behind me and turned around. It was Tyler.

"I just came up to get my stuff. I have to get going too. Do you want a ride?" I was going to get a ride with Kate, but this was better.

"Sure," I said with a smile. He picked his own damp clothes off the floor and tucked them under his arm. We walked back down the stairs and said goodbye to everyone, then we walked to the driveway and over to his massive car.

"I still don't see how you drive this thing," I commented as I climbed into the passenger's seat.

"You get used to it after a while," he replied. There were a few moments of silence. He looked like he was trying to say something, but just didn't know what. We started down one of the long and windy back roads that would take us straight to Spencer. Finally after five minutes, he spoke.

"Did you have fun last night?" he asked, trying to sound casual, but failing.

"Yeah, I really did," I said trying to hint subtly that I liked him.

"Good because I did to." He smiled at me and I smiled back. I knew it was going against my plan to want him, but at that moment I wanted him so bad that I felt a pleasant shiver run down my spine.

There was another moment of silence as we pulled into the dorm parking lot. He turned off the car, but made no move to get out and neither did I. He turned and looked at me again.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go out with me sometime during the week. Not a big date or anything, just sort of hang out, just us." He got the invitation out all in one breath. It was so cute, he was nervous and I was nervous. I was so happy; I didn't even care if this interaction reminded me of a middle school.

"Yes. I would really like that."

"Good," he smiled again and opened the car door. I followed suit and he walked me to my door. He lived on the floor above me.

"I'll see you at dinner tonight right?" he asked.

"Yeah, save me a seat."

"I will, and I'll protect you from Reid," he joked.

"My hero," I joked back. He laughed and leaned in to kiss my cheek. After I closed my door, I could still feel a tingling feeling where his lips had touched my skin. I touched my cheek and smiled.

"What happened to you?" Keira asked rudely, taking in my walk of shame outfit.

"Nothing that concerns you," I told her. She didn't even care when I insulted her anymore.

A feeling of foreboding washed over me. Almost as quickly as it had come, my happiness was fading. I couldn't fall in love I told myself, I just wasn't ready. I intended on keeping that promise, but right now, it didn't seem so easy. I learned this from my mother. She told me never to trust a man, that they would always break my heart. This was true for her. Every man that she's ever loved has left her except for my dad, but she didn't love him anymore. She hasn't loved him for a long time. I feel like this can only end in heart break. I knew we weren't getting married or anything, so why set myself up for heart break?

Why did I always have to be so negative? Why couldn't I just live my life like other teenage girls? Why did I have to plague my mind with so many negative things? Maybe I could learn something from dating Tyler. Maybe I could learn to let go.

The week went by painfully slow. My classes droned on and on for hours; I had a hard time staying awake through most of them. Cross country practice wasn't exactly a treat either. Don't get me wrong, I mean I loved cross country, but I had other things on my mind, and the extra hard workouts weren't exactly helping.

There were a lot of things on my mind, and those thoughts were keeping me awake through my classes. I was unfocused, and my mind was moving as a million miles per second. Most of my thoughts were taken up by Tyler, which wasn't necessarily bad, but once I started thinking about him I couldn't stop, and it wasn't really helping with my school work. In the rare moments that I wasn't thinking about Tyler, I was thinking about Mel and Chase. They were still going out and it was still bothering me. It was always in the back of my mind, like a ringing in my ear. He just made me so uncomfortable. I would catch him looking at me sometimes, especially in the last few days. I wasn't the only one he stared at though. He also looked at Sarah and Kate. It was really creepy.

Tyler and I had a date on Friday night, and he wouldn't tell me where we were going no matter how many times I asked him.

"It's a surprise," he told me, "but you'll love it."

"How do you know if I'll love it if you won't tell me?" I hated surprises and I really wanted to know where we were going so I could figure out what to wear.

"Just trust me," I gave him a playful dirty look. My mother always told me never to trust a man who said just trust me.

On Friday afternoon I had given up asking. I met him outside the locker room after gym.

"How should I dress for tonight?" I asked him. "I mean I don't want to wear a ball gown if we end up going sky diving."

"It's not fancy or anything, just wear some jeans or something. We're going to be outside."

"Alright. I'll see you in a few hours," I said as I walked away. He waved to me and I waved back. heading to my room to get ready. Just because it was casual didn't mean I wasn't going to look hot.

I took a shower; blow dried my hair, and put it in soft curls. I picked out some jeans, like he said and a cute green top to bring out my eyes. I put on my make up and grabbed a sweater. I was ready to go in almost record time. I must've been looking this more than I expected.

Fifteen minutes later there was a knock on my door. I sprung off my bed where I was sitting and dashed for the door. I opened it with a smile on my face, but didn't see the person I was expecting. Aaron was standing in the door.

"Well don't you look nice this evening?" he said in a tone that was anything but nice. "Going somewhere? he asked.

"Nowhere where you'll be. If you're looking for Keira, she's not here," I was hinting that I wanted him to leave, but he didn't get it.

"Do you mind if I wait?" he asked eying me.

"Yes I do mind, because I'm going out," I said sternly.

"Who would go out with you?" he asked with a disgusted look on his face.

"I would," Tyler said coming into the room.

"Go figure. You know I don't want to get into whatever weird deal you two have worked out, because I have it on pretty good authority to say that you're both gay," he said trying to sound sympathetic, but he just couldn't keep that sneer out of his voice. He was looking to pick a fight with Tyler and I just hopped that Tyler was a big enough person to walk away.

"Go to hell Abbot. You're just jealous that the only person who likes you is Keira," he made a face when he said her name. I laughed. It was true; no other girl would go near him.

At that moment Keira walked in the room in all her glory.

"Don't you have some where to be?" she asked me.

"I was just leaving, don't worry about it," I said to her condescendingly, taking Tyler's hand. We walked down the stairs and out of the dorm before we spoke again.

"God, I hate people," I joked. He laughed

"Yeah, some people just deserve the worst, don't you think?"

"I completely agree." This was going to be a good date I could tell. We got into his car, and headed off to the unknown destination.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going now?" I asked. It didn't really matter where we were going now. As long as I was with Tyler, I would be happy.

"Nicky's," he said in a voice that was too flat, and I realized that he was lying.

"Tyler Simms you can't lie for shit!" I said laughing.

"Yes I can," he said, determined to prove that he could. "No one else can tell when I'm lying."

"Let's test you then," I said, thinking of a stupid game I used to play when I was little. "We'll play a game called four truths and a lie. Tell me five things about yourself, four of them are true, and one is a lie, and I'll try to guess which one is a lie."

"Okay. Give me a minute," he said, thinking about his answers. "This is going to be hard for you. My birthday is in December. I'm an only child. I'm kind of clumsy. I'm really close to my mom. My favorite holiday is the fourth of July."

"Hmmm," I pretended to think even though I already knew what it was. "You don't consider yourself an only child do you?" I asked.

"No I don't. I don't have any biological brothers or sisters, but if anyone asked me, I have three brothers."

"It's really cool that you guys are that close," I said. I was really sweet that he considered them his real siblings.

"Alright," he said eying me playfully. "since you're so smart, tell your four truths and a lie."

"Okay. My middle name is Elizabeth. My favorite band is Coldplay. I don't like pickles. I've never been on a real date. I love Shakespeare's plays." I looked at him smugly. There was no way he was going to get it; I'd always been an excellent liar.

"You don't like Shakespeare? That's a shame." My jaw dropped in surprise. I always used to win this game back when I played it at track camp.

"The characters just seem really stupid to me. I mean their just not realistic," I explained.

"So that means you've never been on a real date?" he asked a little surprised.

"No," I blushed a little. I didn't know what made me say that and it was kind of embarrassing. "I've had a few boyfriends, but none of them ever really took me out to get to know me or anything. I think a date should be just two people, not a group, and it should be a good time. If I don't have a good time I don't consider it a date."

"Do you consider this a date?"

"Maybe."

We pulled over onto a nonexistent road. It was a good thing we were in the Hummer, or this little off-roading adventure would have been very uncomfortable. He drove through the woods for a little while, completely concentrating on driving. There was a break in the trees and we pulled up to a beach and the ocean.

"It's beautiful," I said. It really was. The weather was perfect. There was a cool sea breeze, but it wasn't too cold.

"It's mine and my brother's secret spot. We come here to go surfing and stuff so we can be away from the crowds," he explained. "No one else knows that it really exists really because it's been part of Pogue's family's property since Ipswich was founded.

"It's really nice," I said taking off my shoes and putting them in the car. I loved the feeling of the cool soft sand between my toes. I rolled my pant legs up and walked toward the water. He was following close behind me. The water was surprisingly warm for this time of year. He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I liked the feeling. It was dusk and the colors painted on the sky were breathtakingly beautiful. It was romantic, but I would be damned if I made the first move.

"I'm six feet tall," he whispered in my ear. "My favorite book is Catcher in the Rye. My recent favorite color is green. I'm really happy. I don't want to kiss you." It was obvious which one was the lie. I turned around and pressed my lips to his. He welcomed my kiss enthusiastically. This kiss was even better than the one at Reid's party. It was deeper, clear, and more meaningful. When he pulled away I was disappointed. I had to admit, the animal in me wanted to rip his clothed off, but the human in me wanted to get to know him better, and the human won out.

"I'm a Gemini. My recent favorite color is blue. I'm afraid of heights. I love the ocean. I hate cats."

"You're not afraid of heights," he stated.

"You're right," I said. "I love them."

We walked down the beach hand in hand and when we reached the rocks we and climbed onto them, playing the game as we went. There was a convenient couch shaped rock, just above where the water could reach us. We continued playing for hours, sharing stories about ourselves and our childhood. It sort of seemed like we didn't have any secrets. By the time we realized we should leave, I felt like I really knew him, and he really knew me. I told him about my family, and I never talked about my family. I really felt like I could trust him, and I knew that he could trust me.

"It's one in the morning," he stated looking at his watch. "We should probably leave." It was too dark to see the rocks, but the stars lit up his face, and I could still make out his blue eyes.

"How are we going to get back, I can't see a thing."

"Don't worry about it," he informed me. "I know these rocks like the back of my hand." I could see the side of his face, and I could have sworn that the whites of his eyes the stood out in the starlight had disappeared. 'Maybe it's a trick of the light,' I thought. 'Or maybe he closed his eyes'.

He turned around to take my hand, and his eyes were still the same brilliant blue. It must have been my imagination. We made it off of the rocks without any major incidents, although I did trip and almost fall off the cliff, which naturally sent us into a laughing fit. We had made it to the car without dying, when we both realized we were hungry.

"Where can we go to get food at one in the morning?" I asked thoughtfully.

"Denny's," he said. "You know it's completely inappropriate to go to Denny's unless it's really early in the morning, or really late at night."

"That's true," I agreed. "Let's go."

We got to Denny's and we were seated in a far corner away from the few seedy looking people who were scattered throughout the restaurant. That gave us an excuse to be as loud as we wanted. We were both overly tired, and we had abandoned the concept of the game, and were now blurting out random facts about ourselves.

"I went to the Junior Olympics when I was nine," I told him.

"I've always been jealous of Reid's pool skills," he blurted out.

The waitress came to take our order. She looked at us like we were stupid, because we were practically shouting.

"What can I get for you?" she asked.

"I'll have a Belgian waffle with whipped cream," I said. She nodded and turned to Tyler.

"I'll have French toast," he told her.

"Alright, that will be out shortly," she said, and walked away.

Without missing a beat, he said, "I've never broken a bone."

"I broke my nose once; I got kneed in the face," I countered and started laughing. The story was pretty humiliating, but looking back on it, it was pretty funny.

"I can't tell," he said studying my nose.

"My nose hooks a little to the left," I explained pointing to it.

"I still can't tell," he said. He wasn't even lying, he really couldn't tell.

"I almost drowned once. I was ten and I didn't really know how to swim. I was jealous of Caleb because he was really good and had been swimming since he was really little. I tried to show him up by challenging him to a race. Well it was a pretty long race, and I couldn't keep up so I slipped under. Caleb didn't notice at first so I was under there for a while and I swear I was so close to dying that I saw a white light, as stupid as that sounds. He finally noticed, and dove in to save me. I'm still grateful to him for that. It was the scariest moment of my life. I signed up for swimming lessons the next day."

"That's really impressive that you still wanted to swim after you almost died," I said. I know that I wouldn't be able to do that.

"Everyone thinks that Reid is my best friend, and no one else, but it's not true. Sure I love Reid and I spend most of my time with him, but their all my best friends for different reasons. Reid is exciting, and you will never be bored if you hang out with him. Caleb will never let you down. He's probably the most level headed reliable person I've ever met. And Pogue will never make you feel bad about yourself, and will be the first to beat the shit out of someone who messes with you." It was touching to see how much he really cared about his friends. I wished that I had friends like that. Our food had come during this talk, and I had almost finished mine.

"That's enough about me, tell me about your friends." This was what I feared.

"The truth is that I don't have many friends. I have you guys, and Kate and Sarah are amazing. I do have Mel, but we're kind of growing apart. She's been hanging around with that Chase guy and I really don't like him. He's creepy." When I said that, he looked like he didn't know what I was talking about. "I can't really explain it, but there's just something about him that's not right. It's not like I'm ditching her because of him, she won't return my phone calls or texts. It's kind of sad. But I like you guys a lot so I guess its okay."

He had finished his food too and was signaling to the waitress to bring the check. She brought it over, and he paid for it, without giving me time to offer to pay for my half.

"That's enough with sad stories," he said, trying to cheer me up. "Look on the bright side, at least you have Keira." I lost it. I think it was that I was over tired, but I started laughing, and I just couldn't stop. This made him laugh to. The waitress was looking at us like she wanted to come over and kick us out. Before she had the chance to ask us to leave, I stood up and grabbed his hand, and led him out of the restaurant.

"Have a nice night," I said to the waitress in an overly cheery voice as we left. She just grunted in response. We were still laughing when we got to the car, and I was feeling adventurous.

"Can I drive your yacht?" That's what I had taken to call the monstrous car.

"Sure, as long as you don't kill us," he said, tossing me the keys

"Don't worry," I assured him, "I'm a good driver." I got behind the wheel and started the car. The roar of the ignition scared me a bit, and Tyler was laughing at me again.

"I've got it under control," I told him, and pulled out of the parking lot, and onto the empty streets.

"There's no one around, it's not like you're going to hit anyone," he said, implying that I was a bad driver.

"Right," I said stepping on the accelerator. The yacht quickly sped up, easily reaching 90 in the 30 zone.

"That's all you've got?" he asked teasing me.

"No, I just don't want you start crying," I teased back. I slowly brought the car down to the speed limit as we approached the school. We were already out past curfew, and speeding wouldn't help if we got caught. I switched off the headlights as I pulled into the parking lot, like most of did when we were breaking curfew and turned off the car.

"That was really fun," I told him. It was. It was the perfect date, and I got to know him so much better.

"So was it a date?" he asked hopefully.

"Ummm…" I wanted to keep him waiting. "Yes, it was. It was perfect. Thank you." He smiled and leaned over to kiss me. This soon turned into a major make out session. I had no idea how long we were in his car, but I wasn't not complaining.

This time I was the one to break away from him; I wasn't too keen on getting busted by security. He took my hand and we walked over to the main door. He reached out, and tried to tug it open, only it wouldn't budge.

"Shit," he cursed. "We're locked out."

"How are we going to get in?" I wanted to go and sleep in my own bed; I was so tired.

"I'll call Reid and wake him up; he'll come down and open it." Tyler took out his phone, and hit speed dial one. The phone rang about a hundred times before a groggy pissed off voice picked up on the other end.

"What!" Reid snapped into the phone.

"Dude, can you come down really quick and open the front door? Me and Murphy are locked out," Tyler asked.

"No," he said, and then hung up.

"Are we locked out here?" I asked Tyler.

"No," he smiled. "Reid's coming. He may act like an asshole, but he's really not." One minute later a groggy pissed off Reid Garwin opened the door.

"I hope your date was spec- fucking- tacular," he mumbled. I walked passed him, a little afraid for my life.

"It was good, thanks," I said to him. Tyler grabbed my hand again, and the three of us slumped up the stairs. Tyler got off with me on my floor, and Reid continued to climb the stairs.

We got to my door, and Tyler let out a big yawn.

"Good night," he said and kissed me.

"Good night," I said back.

"Can we do this again sometime?" he asked, looking hopeful.

"Yeah, I think so." With that he walked away, and I opened my door, and slid inside. It was almost three in the morning, and I had cross country practice in a few hours; that would be fun. I quickly changed in the dark, not knowing or caring what clothes I put on, and snuggled under my sheets.

All I could think about was Tyler. Our date was one of the most fun days I'd ever had. I had to admit, I was falling for him. That made me wonder. How will this affect my future? I was falling in love with him, and that was bad according to everything I was told, and everything I had taught myself. This was bad, and good at the same time. Tonight I was only going to think about the good. I would think about the real world tomorrow.

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**Please review, it means a lot!**


	6. Open

**Here's the next chapter! This is where the plot thickens and get's a little darker. Thank you for the reviews:)**

**The song for this chapter is:**

**Map of the Problematique, by Muse- the link is in my profile.**

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**Chapter 6**

**Open**

It''d been about a month since our first date and we had gone on a few more. I get even more excited every time I saw him even after a whole month. He was the kind of person that didn't make it awkward to go out to dinner with. We never ran out of things to talk about which was refreshing. Just being around him was enough to guarantee that I was going to have a good day. If I didn't know any better, I would say I was falling in love with him, but I did know better and I would say that when this ends I'd be upset. I'm just setting myself up for heart break, but I couldn't stay away. These are the most serious feelings I've ever had. Part of me was screaming to get out now, but was far too late for that. I was in, and a bigger part of me wanted it to stay that way.

Unfortunately Kate and Caleb had befriended Chase. This meant that he and Mel were hanging around with us more often than not. Mel was my best friend up until recently and now I found her terribly annoying. Since we were all _such _good friends now, Kate, Sarah, Mel and I had planned a girl's day while the boys all went to play paint ball. We were all sitting around in Kate and Sarah's dorm room trying to agree on something to do for the day.

"How about some lunch and then Victoria's Secret?" Kate suggested. The rest of us hadn't been with our boyfriends as long as Kate had been with Pogue, so we all blushed at the idea of buying sexy underwear for them. Kate saw the looks on our faces, and then laughed at us.

"Not like that you losers! It's just my favorite store besides, who could turn down new bras and underwear?" That was true.

"I'm in," I told her, "as long as I get to pick where we eat."

"Fine," she huffed. I could tell she wanted to go somewhere upscale, but she knew that I would most likely pick somewhere more low key. She was absolutely correct.

"We're going to Friendly's," I announced. Friendly's had the best grilled cheese- not to mention the best peanut butter cup Sundays ever. Kate rolled her eyes at me.

"Fine, then we're going shopping first."

We all got into Kate's BMW and drove twenty minutes to the nearest mall.

This was a no nonsense trip. We walked through the giant doors at the main entrance and straight to Victoria's Secret. We spent about two hours there. I got ten new pairs of underwear and spent the better part of my time shopping for the prefect bra.

When we were done we headed for Friendly's. I ordered a grilled cheese and fries. I couldn't wait to start eating. Shopping trips always made me hungry.

"There is nothing more satisfying that buying new underwear," Mel stated. We all laughed. It was true. Underwear shopping is one of my favorite hobbies.

We finished our food, and then ordered dessert. I got a peanut butter cup Sunday with extra jimmies. It was probably the best thing I've ever tasted.

Tyler called me just as we were finishing up.

"Hey!" I answered.

"Hi," he replied. "Do you and the rest of the girls want to meet us at Nicky's in about an hour? We just finished our game." I covered the mouth piece and looked to my companions.

"Do you want to meet the guys at Nicky's?" Kate rolled her eyes.

"I guess so," she huffed. "We really need to find a new place to hang out; I'm getting sick of Nicky's." The other two nodded and I uncovered the mouth piece.

"Yeah, we can hang out for a while."

"Okay, I'll see you in an hour."

"Yup, bye."

"Bye," he said, then hung up the phone. We weren't at the 'I love you' stage yet, but I knew that he wanted to day it; he just didn't want to freak me out because I wasn't ready.

The check came and the four of us each paid for our portion. We stood up slowly, all stuffed with food.

"Remind me never to eat again," Sarah groaned. We all laughed and headed out to the car.

We arrived at Nicky's with ten minutes to spare. Nicky's was filled with the usuals; Aaron and his stupid friends, some of the kids from Ipswich High School, and older men trying to hit on teenage girls who were much too young to be in a bar. Yeah this was the life. We got our usual table in the back near the juke box and waited for the guys.

They all came stumbling in fifteen minutes later. They had thankfully stopped at the dorm to shower before gracing us with their presence. As they walked over I could hear Reid and Pogue bickering.

"I can't believe you missed that shot, we would have won if you weren't such a dumb shit with bad aim," Pogue scrutinized.

"I didn't see you step up and try to hit him after I missed," Reid retorted.

"I was out of paint!" Pogue exclaimed.

"Yeah, because you hit too many trees," Reid pointed out.

"At least I wasn't out immediately like someone else," Pogue was trying to turn the subject away from himself by looking at Chase.

"I didn't see him there," Chase defended. Caleb came up behind them with a big smile on his face.

"Don't be mad just because me and Tyler beat your asses. I mean it was only fair; the three of you verses me and Baby Boy. We usually beat you two anyway." He pointed to Reid and Pogue. "It was only fair that we gave you Chase, but I guess you still sucked." Caleb was gloating and that made Reid mad as was intended.

"Next time I'm on Ty's team. Pogue just sucks," Reid complained. Sarah suddenly cleared her throat trying to get their attention.

"Well hi! I didn't hear you guys come in!" she said sarcastically. I started to giggle.

"Sorry," Caleb said and went to place a kiss on her cheek. Tyler came around to my side of the table, dropped himself in the chair next to me and gave me a sweet kiss. I smiled at him.

"How was your day?" he asked.

"It was pretty good we just went shopping and then went out to eat. Nothing special."

"What did you buy?" I gave him a sly smile.

"Underwear." He laughed. We joined in with the conversation at the table.

Everyone was talking about Fall Fest that was coming up. Tyler had asked me to go with him yesterday. It was sort of like prom, but in the fall. It was in a few days and I still didn't have a dress. That was a bit of a problem. I was just about to ask him what color he wanted to wear, when Reid got up and looked at Tyler.

"You wanna hit the tables? It looks like Aaron and the boys are starved for some competition."

"Sure man." Was his response. Tyler stood up, and I stood with him.

"Don't you want to sit here with me?" I asked, playfully grabbing the collar of his dark green polo shirt.

"I'll tell you what; I go and take all the money in Aaron's pockets, and you get half," He charmed me.

"You've got yourself a deal Mr. Simms." I held my hand for him to shake. He took it and then wrapped his arms around me.

"What am I going to do with you?" He asked jokingly. I kissed him sweetly.

"I don't know, that's for you to decide." I winked at him and he let go of me to follow Reid over to the pool tables. I sat back down at the table and realized that I was alone with Sarah, Kate and Mel. Caleb, Chase and Pogue were all over at the foosball table, playing intensely. Sarah said something about what girls do and a quarter, but I wasn't really listening to her. I was busy looking at Tyler across the room. I got up from my seat and walked over to the pool table. I'd never actually watched Reid and Tyler play pool before, but I heard that their skills were legendary. I parked myself on a bar stool and watched the table. Reid just made a combo shot that looked next to impossible. I looked up at him quickly, just in time to see that his eyes were coal black. I blinked, thinking that my mind was playing tricks on me. When I opened my eyes a split second later, they were normal. It must have been a trick of the light.

The next thing I knew Aaron was shoving Reid. Did he see the same thing I did? Tyler, Reid, Aaron, and Aaron's friends headed towards the back door. They were going to get into a fight and it was two against four. I didn't like those odds. I looked over to Caleb on the dance floor and Pogue at the foosball table. If there was going to be a fight it was going to be even. I tapped Caleb on the shoulder. He turned around surprised. I felt a little bad for ruining their moment, but I didn't want to see Tyler get hurt.

"Tyler and Reid are going to get into a fight out back," I told him.

"Shit," he said under his breath. "Grab my coat," he said to Pogue as he kissed Sarah on the cheek.

"Is everything okay?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah," Caleb responded quickly. "Stay here."

"Do you need help?" Chase asked.

"No man. Stay here with the girls," Pogue told him, sounding more than a little condescending. I followed them as they headed toward the back door.

"Stay here Murph," Caleb said.

"But what if they hurt him?" I asked concerned.

"He'll be fine," Caleb assured me. "This happens a lot. Aaron and all them, they're all just a bunch of pussies anyway." This was meant to be comforting, but it wasn't. Once he was out of sight, I followed him. Nicky was right in front of me holding a baseball bat. Apparently this did happen a lot; Nicky could tell the signs of a fight and was right on top of it.

"Take it somewhere else ladies," He ordered. "Now!"

"What ever you say Nicky," Aaron responded as he headed inside. He maliciously bumped Caleb's shoulder as his goons followed him back into the bar. Aaron gave me a dirty look as he passed me on the stairs I was standing on just inside of the door. I was out of sight of Caleb, Pogue, Reid and Tyler, but I could hear every word they were saying. Once they started arguing, I couldn't move. I had to know what they were fighting about.

"What were you thinking?" Caleb demanded. Who was he talking to? Wasn't it Aaron who started the fight?

"We were just playing them," Reid said calmly.

"Come on Caleb they were suckers for it," Tyler defended.

"Why don't you quit being such a pussy?" Reid said aggressively.

"I'm not finished with you yet," Caleb retorted. It sounded like he grabbed someone. My curiosity got the better of me and I peeked around the corner. Caleb was holding Reid by the collarbone, and Reid looked pretty pissed about it. He grabbed Caleb's hand and held it in front of him. Those frightening ebony eyes were piercing into Caleb. I couldn't believe it was real. I wanted to run away and never talk to Reid again, but something was rooting me to that spot; it was like I was meant to hear more.

"Reid stop!" Caleb choked out. It sounded like he was in real pain.

In an instant Caleb moved like he was going to push Reid off of him, but instead, Reid went flying into a stack of empty kegs. I had to put my hand over my own mouth to keep from screaming. That was physically impossible! Reid's back had to be broken. I looked over to Tyler and Pogue, expecting them to start freaking out. Pogue looked bored, like this happened often, and Tyler just looked tired. Caleb looked behind him for an instant and I could see that his eyes were black too.

"What will it take for you to get it?" Caleb said, walking towards Reid who was still sitting on the ground. He looked broken. "It's addictive, you moron!" Caleb continued in a stern, pissed off voice I had never heard him use. Reid pulled himself sloppily off the ground. That was impossible! With the amount of force he hit the wall with, there was no way he should be standing, let alone breathing right now. Who were these people?

"You've seen what happens if you abuse it," Caleb continued to criticize. "You want that, that's you're business, but if you Use in the open like you did tonight, you risk exposing us all, and that I won't let happen." What was he talking about? When he said use I automatically though drugs, but there was no drug that could make you do what Caleb just did.

Reid took a step forward and put his hand out over one of the empty kegs. It began to levitate and Reid, with his eyes still black, looked murderous.

"My power's greater than yours," Caleb stated.

"Not until you Ascend," Reid snapped.

"Alright, go for it tough guy," Caleb taunted. Reid whipped the keg at Caleb so hard and so fast, that I couldn't believe that Caleb had time to react. He deflected the keg to the side and sent what I can only describe as a force field towards Reid. He flew back with a grunt and landed in a huge pile of empty glass bottles. I let out a small gasp, but they were all distracted and didn't hear me. This time I was sure that Reid wouldn't get up. That would have sent any normal person to the hospital on life support. But I guess I should have realized by then that these boys weren't normal.

Caleb started walking towards Reid again, but this time Pogue interceded. He jumped in front of Caleb, holding him back.

"Stop! This is Crazy!"

"It's for his own good!" Caleb insisted. How could nearly killing your friend be for his own good? "Keep Using like you did tonight, like you did last night!" Caleb continued to yell. "When you Ascend you'll be as good as dead!"

"So I cheated at cards, big deal!" Reid defended himself. I was shocked to see that he was standing. Tyler was pulling him out of the heap of broken glass.

"Don't play me Reid!" He was still trying to get at him, but Pogue was doing a successful job at holding him back. "I'm talking later and you know it!"

"The hell I do!" Reid shot back getting up in Caleb's face. Pogue stopped holding him back as they looked each other dead in their coal black eyes. "I didn't Use later," Reid said sternly. With that he brushed by Caleb and Pogue, giving Caleb a little shove before storming off towards the door, and towards my hiding place. He turned the corner and laid his now normal eyes on me. His eyes were wide, and he didn't say a word. He just stood there staring at my tear streaked face and all I could do was stare back.

"It's not right Using on each other Caleb." I could hear Tyler say as he walked towards the door, and me.

"Tell that to Reid," he snapped at Tyler's back as he walked up the steps. I closed my eyes, not ready to face him. What ever this was, it was a secret that I wasn't supposed to know. That was the real reason why Caleb didn't want me to follow him. I should have listened.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. Tyler rounded the corner and saw me, leaning against the wall. His face turned from annoyed to petrified as he took in the expression on my face. He could tell that I had heard everything.

"Murph, I can explain everything." He reached out his hand to touch mine, but I flinched away. involuntarily; it was almost like survival instincts wanted me to stay away from him. I saw something that scared me, and now I wanted to run away from it. He looked hurt, and that hurt me, but I wasn't even sure if I knew him at all.

This secret was big, and it defines who they are. If I was getting to know Tyler and possibly falling in love with him, and I don't really even know who he is, then who was I falling for?

My heart was racing. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know whether to go along with what ever he said and trust him, or run away screaming and never look back. I opted for the latter and turned on my heels and ran through the bar and out the front door. I ran to the road, and my plan was to not stop running until this was all a distant memory.

There were so many things that I didn't understand. What was ascending? Did they have real powers? What other things did Tyler keep from me? How many of them are there? Could they hurt me? Could they capture me and manipulate me into not telling anyone? Were they dangerous? I wouldn't tell anyone anyway, unless I wanted a one way ticket to a mental institution. As I ran I didn't notice the car following me, the tears streaming down my face, or how much my feet hurt on the flats I was wearing. The car pulled up next to me, surprising me.

"Murphy," Tyler said as he slowed the car to keep up with my pace. "I'm sorry you had to hear that. That wasn't how I was planning on you finding out."

"Were you ever going to tell me?" I shot back I was still running. I couldn't stop moving.

"Eventually yes. I was just going to wait until I knew that you weren't going to run away, like you're doing now." He sounded sad and it was breaking my heart, the heart I didn't even know existed until recently.

"To be honest Tyler, I don't know what to think. That was the weirdest, scariest most unexplainable thing I've ever seen. How do I know that you're not crazy?" I was choking on my sobs as I let this out. My feet were still pounding on the pavement. "How do I know I'm not crazy?"

"You know me well enough," He said. "If you get in the car I will explain everything to you. You don't ever have to talk to me again after that, but please, I need to explain." I slowed my pace. I at least owed him that, whether he was a psycho or not. He stopped that car and I climbed into the familiar passenger seat, which somehow seemed foreign now.

We drove in silence for a while. I wasn't surprised when he pulled off the road, and we went bouncing through the familiar path that we took on our first date. He pulled up in front of the ocean, parking the car under a tree. It was cold and I realized that I had forgotten my jacket back at Nicky's. He noticed and shrugged off his own jacket handing it over to me, too afraid to risk touching me again. He turned off the engine and got out of the car. I followed. There was a five minute silence of us just staring at the ocean, and then he finally spoke.

"You know all those legends about our families and how we settled the Ipswich colony?" he started. I nodded my head, still looking at the waves crashing on the shore. I couldn't bring myself to look at him.

"The legends about the witchcraft and the trials, they're all true. When our families came here to escape the witch hunt in Europe, they formed a Covenant of Silence to keep them safe, and it's still in tact today. It's kept us safe for hundreds of years." He looked over at me to see if I was taking it in. I risked one look at his clear blue eyes, then quickly looked away.

"The first male in every family gets the power. At thirteen we get a taste of it. It's sort of like a test. When we're eighteen we Ascend and the power becomes our life. This would be great, but every time we Use the power after we Ascend, it takes bits of our life away. The power becomes our life and every time we Use it ages us. The reason why Caleb was so mad was because Reid is already addicted, and Ascending when you're already so reliant on the power is not good."

"I've never been that scared in my life." I looked up at him again. "Caleb seemed really dangerous."

"Don't worry about that. It's not the first time that's happened. We really can't hurt each other that bad. Caleb was just giving him a firm hand," he assured me.

"Could you ever lose control of your power and hurt someone?" I asked. I was afraid he could hurt me, or someone else.

"If you're asking if I could hurt you, the answer is no. First of all I would never put you in any danger, and secondly I've never lost control of my power before. It's not that easy to do." He looked at me hopefully. He was probably hoping that this would be easy. But I wasn't letting him off that easily. "Do you want me to show you the power?" He asked. That's exactly the opposite of what I wanted.

"No," My voice was shaky. "I don't want to see you're eyes turn black." There was another long silence where we were staring at the ocean again. I was imagining simpler times that, up until an hour ago, consumed my new life. Now it all seemed stupid. No one could ever be that happy.

"Murphy, look at me." I looked and caught his blue gaze. "I will never hurt you." I could tell he wasn't lying. What I said next hurt him probably more than I knew.

"You already have."

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**Please Review! I would love to know what you all think!**


	7. Two Directions

**This is the aftermath of Murphy finding out about the power and how she handles it.**

**The two songs for this chapter are:**

**Three Wishes by The Pierces and Wait it Out by Imogen Heap- Links in my profile.**

**Enjoy ;)**

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**Chapter 7**

**Two Directions**

I climbed back into the hummer, and Tyler followed shortly after. He turned the car around, and we headed back over the bumpy path and merged with the main road. We didn't talk. Everything I knew was telling me that he was lying, but the look in his eyes said something different. I didn't know what would be worse; if he was lying about this whole thing, or if he was telling the truth.

We pulled into the Spencer parking lot and he turned the car off. We sat there for a few minutes and then I opened the door and got out. We walked side by side to the dorm, not touching. We walked up the creaky stairs, and he walked me to my door out of habit more than anything else. I saw that someone had left my jacket on the doorknob. I slid Tyler's jacket, which I was still wearing, off of my shoulders and handed it to him. I was about to open the door and leave him there without saying goodbye, but his voice stopped me.

"Are we okay?" he asked. His voice was soft and weak. I wanted so badly to tell him that we were. I wanted things to go back the way they were before I knew his secret, but I knew that was impossible.

"I don't know," I answered honestly. I took one last look at his blue eyes, and I couldn't help but imagine what they would look like if they were black. I opened the door and quickly closed it behind me. That's when the shock settled in.

Keira was asleep, so she wasn't going to bother me with her snide remarks. I didn't think I could handle them right then anyway. I changed my clothes without really knowing what I was changing into and slipped under my down comforter. I knew that I wasn't going to get much sleep, but there wasn't anything else for me to do. I wouldn't be able to focus on anything never mind the school work I promised myself I would get done before I went out. I knew I would see the words, but I wouldn't be able to process them. I had way too much on my mind so I pulled my comforter up to my chin and let my thoughts run wild.

The logic in me told me not to believe it, that it was impossible. There was no such thing as magic. But on the other hand, I knew what I saw, and what I saw was without a doubt real. Tyler wasn't lying to me when he told me the story, but did the truth really matter? It was still something that changed my entire perspective of Tyler, of all of them. My mind was racing until the early hours of the morning. My alarm clock went off and I let out a grunt as I rolled over to look at it. It read six o'clock; I had gotten a whopping twenty minutes of sleep.

I pulled myself out of bed and grabbed my stuff for a quick shower. I still smelled like the bar. After my shower, I sloppily pulled my uniform out of the closet and put it on, quickly ran a brush through my hair and put on some make up. I didn't know why I was in such a hurry to go nowhere. I sat on my bed and stared into space for the next half an hour until I was almost late for class. I didn't want to talk to anyone today.

I got to English class just as the late bell rang. I was the last one there, and I took my usual seat next to Caleb, but I didn't look at him. The assigned seating on top of being late just made it harder to get away from him. Sarah was about to say something to me, but she saw my face and thought better of it. The class started and I pretended to be listening intently, and taking notes. I couldn't concentrate. It felt like my head was about to explode and I had no idea what to do about it. I didn't want to talk to anyone, but I didn't want to sit here and do nothing either. The class passed painfully slow, and Caleb kept shooting glances at me, like he was trying to tell me something. I pretended I didn't see. I was still afraid of him.

When the bell finally rang, I shot up from my seat and rushed out of the room before anyone could say anything to me. History was next, and it was going to be bad. Three out of the four of them were in this class. I didn't know how I was going to get through it without talking to one of them. I got to the class as late as I possibly could, and took my seat in between Tyler and Pogue, with Reid on Tyler's other side. I didn't look at any of them. Not even when Pogue got up to let me in the row. Not even when they were all staring at me with concerned looks on their faces. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I felt like if they stared at me for too long, their eyes would turn black and I would end up thrown against the wall, or reduced to dust. I think I would have actually be grateful if Tyler turned me to dust, that way I couldn't think, and I couldn't be afraid.

"Are you okay?" Tyler whispered to me once the class was in full swing. I couldn't bring myself to look at him. I was afraid of what his eyes would tell me. I was afraid that he would reveal something else, or tell me that our relationship was a joke, or tell me that he loved me. If he did that, I would have to break his heart and maybe mine in the process. I couldn't handle this. I didn't think I was strong enough to do anything other than what I'd planed. Being with Tyler would change everything forever. He would flip my entire life ass backwards, and I'm not sure if I'm strong enough to handle that.

I shrugged my shoulders in response, not daring to take my eyes off of the notebook in front of me. I could feel his gaze on me for another second, which seemed to last a life time, then he looked away. I stole a glance Reid through the corner of my eye to see that he wasn't hurt at all, but he looked sick. He caught me looking at him and gave me a look that I never though was capable of crossing his features. He looked sorry. I guess it was his fault that I found out. If he didn't Use last night, there never would have been a fight in the first place. I looked away from him quickly glancing at Pogue on my other side. He was the only one who had managed not to scare the shit out of me, but he looked just as guilty and upset as the others did, and that meant that he could do what they could do, and that made him the same.

The bell rang what seemed like a life time later, and I went to the bathroom to kill time before I had to brave physics with Caleb. We were doing a lab, so that meant that we actually had to talk. Next to Tyler, he was the one I wanted to talk to the least. I finished up my business, and flushed. As I was about to leave I heard the familiar voices of Kate and Sarah enter the room. I quickly picked my legs up off the floor and onto the toilet seat. I didn't want them to know I was there. Then it suddenly dawned me. Did they know about it? I knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, I mean I should've known that, especially due to recent events, but I needed to know if they were liars too.

"Do you know what happened with Murphy last night?" Kate asked. "She ran out pretty quick. I was wondering if it had to do with Aaron. He was out there causing trouble."

"Caleb just told me that she and Tyler got into a pretty big fight, but he wouldn't tell me what it was about," Sarah answered. So they had lied to all the girls. Kate and Pogue had been dating forever. When was he planning on telling her?

"It must have been pretty bad if she's that mad," Kate pointed out.

"Have you seen her today?" Sarah asked.

"No. Why?"

"She looks scared. She's clutching her books to her chest, and when she walks down the hall, she's looking around, like someone's going to pop out and grab her." Sarah was more observant than I gave her credit for. I didn't even realize that I was doing those things.

"I can't imagine that Tyler could have done anything to cause that. I think it's something else." Kate had no idea how close she was.

"You've been reading way too many mystery novels. I'm sure their both going to be fine. It was probably a misunderstanding." Sarah was wrong there. I had understood perfectly; that was the problem.

I heard their footsteps fade as they opened the door and left. I got out of the stall and looked at myself in the mirror. I didn't look anything like I usually did. I looked like had just taken a day trip into hell, which I guess wasn't that much of an exaggeration. I didn't have the time or the motivation to fix my appearance so instead I stood up straight and moved my books to one hand, and supported them on my hip like I usually did. I'd be damned if I looked pathetic. The late bell was going to ring in a second so I opened the door and walked across the hall to my physics class trying to hold my head up.

Caleb was already at our lab table and looked up when I came in. I froze for a second. 'Could I run away?' I thought. No, I couldn't. He would probably chase me if I did. I slowly walked over to my seat and perched myself on my lab stool. I leaned as far away from him as possible.

"I know that you don't want to talk to any of us right now, but you have to listen to me," he whispered. He was looking over his shoulder to make sure that no one else was listening.

I sighed in response, and glued my eyes to the table in front of me.

"Will you please look at me?" he asked. There was sincerity in his voice. Right now he didn't resemble the monster that I saw last night. I looked him straight in his chocolate eyes. He was taken aback. I didn't think he was expecting me to cooperate.

"About last night, that was just an argument. When we argue like that it's just like when everyone else argues, only with the power it can get intense. I know what it must have looked like for you, but you need to know that Tyler will never hurt you. He hardly ever Uses. I know that whatever he told you about himself is true. You have to understand that he has to keep this a secret. We're all supposed to. That's why Kate and Sarah don't know, that's why no one knows except for our families." He was talking kind of fast, but I took in every word he said. His tone was convincing, but I was still skeptical. He didn't wait for me to say anything, he just kept talking. I could tell he really felt bad about what happened.

"That's as violent as you will ever see any of us get. To us it's just boys fighting. It might have looked like he could get hurt, but Reid's fine. We can't really hurt each other; I was just proving a point." The last part was rushed. He was really trying to prove a point.

"You just need to promise us that you won't tell anyone." He still looked worried as he said this. Then I spoke my first words of the day.

"Your secret's safe with me," I assured him. "But that doesn't change how I feel."

"We're not going to hurt you," he told me again.

"That's not the only thing I'm worried about. You can't imagine what it was like to see that, what it was like to find out that someone you thought you knew was keeping something this big and unbelievable and frightening from you. There really isn't a way for me to know anything about any of you for sure. I know that you're probably telling the truth, but there's a chance that you're not and I'm not willing to take that risk." I said all this in a rushed whisper hoping that if anyone was listening they wouldn't understand me.

"So you're going to throw away friendships and love on a stupid assumption?" When he said it that way it sounded like I was a stupid bitch. I didn't know what to say so I glued my eyes to my notebook like I had already done so many times that day. "If that's the case, then you're not the girl we though you were."

We didn't talk for the rest of the period. I didn't hear a word the teacher said, and to be honest I really didn't care. I knew that Caleb was right, but I didn't know what to do about it. I couldn't just go back to the way things were. There would always be doubt lingering over my head. Maybe it was okay that they had some sort of unexplainable powers, but I would never know if I knew the whole truth or if they were hiding something more dangerous from me.

I didn't know how I made it through the rest of the day. I didn't talk to anyone, and no one tried to talk to me. I ate lunch alone in the library. Kate didn't even try to talk to me during journalism. I guess I looked that miserable and antisocial. After school I went to cross country practice. That was much better than being in a constant five foot radius of the people I was trying to avoid. I did my workout, and then went back to the dorms to attempt to do homework for classes that I didn't actually attend. I was there physically of course, but mentally I was somewhere else entirely.

It was about ten o'clock when someone knocked on our dorm door. I assumed it was for Keira so I waited for her to get up and answer it. When she opened the door I heard a familiar voice that I was both relieved and scared to hear.

"Is Murphy in there?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah," Keira responded and opened the door wider so he could see me from the hallway.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked. His eyes were begging me.

"Just let me get a sweatshirt," I told him. I picked myself up off of my bed and went over to my tiny dresser. I picked up the first ratty old sweat shirt I could find, then turned and faced him, still in the doorway. I didn't bother putting shoes on; this wouldn't take long.

We walked down the hall and to the deserted common room. He stood in front of the couch, and turned to face me.

"I know that Caleb already talked to you, but you have to hear this from me. It's true that if you stay with me it won't be a normal relationship, but nothing will ever hurt you, you have my word." I knew he wasn't lying, hell he would probably dive in front of a speeding bullet for me. But that wasn't what I wanted from him. I'd never been this scared in my life. He was everything that I was brought up to hate, to stay away from. I wanted to love him and hate him at the same time and that scared me almost as much as the secret did.

"The best thing to do is just end it now. This whole thing with the power, it's too big for me. I can't handle it. I knew that this wouldn't last long, and I was right. As much as I wanted to be wrong, I was right. This," I gestured to us, "just can't happen. My mom was right, I can't trust anyone." My voice was cracking and I didn't know why. This was the right thing to do to protect myself and too keep from hurting him worse in the future. "I want to be civil about this and I would appreciate it if you and the others didn't talk to me anymore."

He looked shocked, but more than that, he looked hurt. He looked like I had just punched him in the gut.

"You don't mean that," he said in a soft voice. I started to walk towards the door, then hesitated.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." With that I left him. I waited until I was back in my room and under the covers before I let the silent tears fall. I knew this was going to hurt, so why did I let it happen? I was a stupid girl that thought she could be happy with a stupid boy. I was miserable now, but I knew that I would thank myself in the long run, as soon as I stopped seeing his hurt face every time I closed my eyes.

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**Thank you for reading and please review!**


	8. The Fall Fest

**I just want to say thank you to my beta reader Bella Danvers. Without her this story wouldn't make much sense. I also want to thank those of you who have reviewed it really means a lot to me.**

**If you want to know what Murphy's Fall Fest dress looks like, it's up in my profile.**

**The song for this chapter is Missile, by IAMX.-Link in my profile**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter, there are plenty more to come!**

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**Chapter 8**

**The Fall Fest**

I woke up to find that my cheeks and pillow were damp. What little sleep I did get was turbulent at best. My sleep was filled with dreams of Tyler and the look on his face as I turned my back on him. I was reminded of our good times, then just as quickly and intensely as they came, they were violently snatched away.

I dropped my body back on to my slightly uncomfortable dorm mattress, longing for some kind of comfort.

Keira walked through the door, having just taken a shower. She already had a sneer on her face, and it took all of my will power not to get up and lay her out.

"You look like you just got your face smashed in by a paddle," she said in the sneering tone that only she can perfect.

"I'm aware of that, thank you very much," I informed her, making sure my tone said, 'Go away.'

"But seriously, what happened with you and Tyler last night?" She seemed less hostile, but I knew that was just an act. She wanted me to spill my guts in a moment of vulnerability so she could be the first to know and the first to inform everyone of what had happened.

"Nothing," I said in a monotone, "Absolutely nothing." She left me alone after that, knowing that I wasn't about to have a heart to heart with her.

This whole situation would be so much easier if there wasn't the eerie pang of regret constantly pounding at the back of my skull. I did the right thing, so these feelings should go away, shouldn't they?

I got out of my bed at the last possible second, quickly pulled on the first uniform that my hands found, and headed out the door, almost forgetting my bag.

It was almost a repeat of yesterday. I was almost late to my first class. I walked up the stairs and sat in my usual seat next to Caleb. I was surprised when he didn't look at me. I was hurt at first, and then I remembered it was what I had asked for. I sunk down into my seat and tuned out the teacher. The droning in the background unfortunately wasn't enough to quiet my thoughts. I was once again swept into memories of happiness, that as far I was concerned, never even existed.

I tapped my pencil against my note book, hearing the hollow thunk of the eraser. I was trying to will myself to stop thinking, but it was impossible. All I could think about was Tyler, and was eating me alive. I don't think I could sit next to him next period without crying, throwing up, or running away.

I glanced at Caleb. His jaw was set tight and he looked like he was concentrating very hard on what the teacher was saying. I knew that he wasn't thinking of me, but I was kind of hoping he was. It was hard to go from being loved by so many people, to having them ignore you. It hurt, even though it was my own doing.

The bell rang and I got out of my seat slowly. Sarah sent me a sympathetic smile on her way out of the classroom. I wanted to do something in response, but I was immobile. I couldn't bring my body to do anything, except the practiced motions of putting my things away like a useless automaton.

I slouched over to my next class not caring if I looked pathetic. My looks weren't my top concern right then. I stood outside the door of my history class, willing myself to take the step over the threshold. 'If I see his face, and don't die, I'll be okay,'I told myself. I stepped into the room and looked up to where he sat. Our eyes locked for an instant, and in that instant I saw everything. He wanted me, and it broke my heart. I didn't die, although I wanted to. I broke the contact and made my way to my usual seat. There was no getting out of it; I was stuck there for an hour.

I kept my head down over my notebook, doodling furiously, trying to keep from looking at him. I could feel his eyes on me and that made me uncomfortable. I could feel myself physically shaking.

It surprised me when a piece of paper suddenly appeared in my line of vision.

_'Why won't you look at me?'_

I didn't want to answer him, but I had to. I had to tell him how it was.

_**'I told you yesterday to leave me alone. I meant it. It's for the best.'**_

I slid the paper back to him, not expecting a response. I was surprised again when the paper came back with a new note scrawled on it.

_'You know you didn't mean that. I could tell you were lying. You know that you can't lie to me.'_

I couldn't believe I was writing back, but it was the tenacity in me. I needed to prove my point.

_**'Please don't make this any harder than it already is. Please I'm begging you to leave me alone.'**_

I folded the paper in finality, still trying not to look at him. This would be so much easier if he hated me for what I did.

_'If it's hard then it's wrong. Please, you don't have to do this.'_

_**'I do have to do this. You need to let me go…Please.'**_

I was desperate now. He was torturing me without even knowing it. He was trying to give me a life, but instead he was taking my life away.

_'No. I'm not giving up on you.'_

As I read the note the bell rang and I just sat there, staring at it. He wasn't going to give up. A fresh round of tears sprung to my eyes before I had the chance to stop them. I was boiling over. My emotions were pulling me in so many different directions that it was hard to see or do anything else.

I barely made it through French and Physics. Pogue looked upset in French. I couldn't ask him what was wrong, but I had a feeling that he was disappointed… in me. Caleb continued to ignore me in Physics. Everyone ignoring me might have worse than them trying to help me, but I made this bed, and I had to lay in it.

I knew before Physics was over that I wouldn't be able to make it through another period, especially since Tyler was in my next period class. So I made the executive decision to skip Economics.

I went to the library and sat down at a table, blending in with the study hall students. Once I sat down, I continued staring at my notebook. I was startled when someone sat down at my table. I was scared it was one of the Sons, so I was slow to look up. As I lifted my head, I noticed the arrogant smirk of Aaron Abbot. I sighed with relief. I had never been so happy to see the asshole.

"You've been looking lonely these past few days," he stated, taking in the sight of me. I no doubt looked like I had just been pegged by an eighteen wheeler.

"Yeah, well I just don't feel much like talking," I said in a bored tone, hoping he would go away.

"You know, The Fall Fest is this weekend and it looks to me like you don't have a date," he said in an observant tone, that smirk ever present on his face.

"If you're asking me to The Fall Fest, you're wasting you're breath," I shot back

"Well you can't say nobody tried Negative Nancy." With that he started to get up from the table.

I had a sudden flash of a plan. A horrible, but potentially effective plan to get Tyler to leave me alone.

"Wait," I almost shouted, earning me a glare from the librarian.

"Yes?" he answered, still managing to look like the pompous ass that he was.

"I'll go with you," I said with confidence. It was an act. I would pretend to be happy with Aaron so Tyler would hate me. If Tyler hated me, than this whole situation would be easier.

Aaron was a little shocked, but he quickly recovered his cocky stance.

"Wonderful, what color are we wearing?"

I thought for a second before answering.

"Gray," I said. I wasn't much in the mood for colors, especially the color blue.

"You know, even in this state," he eyed me up and down, "you still manage to look ridiculously hot." I rolled my eyes, already sick of him. I hated it when people talked to me like that.

"Don't push your luck."

After school was out, I walked over to the parking lot, and slid into my Audi. I was walking with more confidence now, putting on a show for everyone. I wanted it to look like I had moved on, almost like I was happy.

I decided to skip cross country practice, which was rare for me. Now that I was going to The Fall Fest, I needed a dress, a gray dress. I decided my best bet would be to go to 'the dress warehouse' down in Peabody.

I arrived there and was instantly overwhelmed by all the dresses. This would have been fun if I was with Kate and Sarah and we were looking together. It would have been fun if I was still happy, and I was going with Tyler. Now it just seemed like a chore.

A sales woman approached me when I entered the building.

"Can I help you find what you're looking for today?" she asked pleasantly.

"Yes, I'm looking for a gray dress," I replied, trying to match her kindness, but failing.

"Okay. Are you sure about the color? We could pull some nice greens or blues for you," she suggested.

"No thank you. Grey is the set color." I think she could tell that I was a little cold. I felt bad, but I couldn't help it. It was all I could do not to run away from the store.

"You're a size four?" she asked and I nodded. "Go to the dressing room on the right, and I'll pull all the gray dresses I can find." She walked off towards the racks, and I stepped into the dressing room she had indicated.

There was a huge mirror, and I couldn't help but look at myself. My eyes were bloodshot, making the green color appear vibrant and a little scary. I looked like I hadn't slept in days, which wasn't far from the truth. My hair was wavy and a little matted. My black pea coat made me look like I was going to a funeral. Disgusted, I shrugged it off and let it fall to the floor. The old long sleeved tee shirt that I had changed into after school didn't really help my cause, either. I turned away from the mirror to hide from the damage that I had done to myself. It was all for the best. Sometimes you just have to look out for yourself.

The woman came back with five dresses for me to try. At this point I didn't really care what the dress looked like. I tried the first one that I saw. It was just above my knee in length. It had folded silk for the top that connected into a halter. It had an empire waist, and the rest of the bottom was done up in sequins. I slipped it on and looked in the mirror, trying not to make eye contact with myself.

I opened up the door and let the sales woman see. She looked and tugged at the dress a little.

"This one is very nice on you," she said. "It doesn't look like it needs any alterations, either."

"I'll take it," I told her in a monotone. It seemed like my voice was taking on this quality a lot lately.

"Are you sure you don't want to try any others?" she looked at me like I was crazy.

"I'm sure." She knew that I wasn't very excited to be here so she didn't push me. I bet I looked like I would have bitten her head off if she did.

After I changed she took the dress over to the register and rung it up. I handed her my debit card, and she handed me the dress. I thanked her and walked out.

I opened the back door of my car and carelessly tossed the dress in. I got in, and cranked my music up as loud as it would go and peeled out of the parking lot.

I arrived back in Ipswich after the forty minute drive, exhausted and I went straight up to my dorm room. As I was walking up the winding staircase, I ran into the last person I wanted to see.

Tyler was coming down the stairs with his head down. I tried to turn around before he saw me, but it was no use. When he saw me his eyes went wide. I tried to brush past him, but he caught my arm. His touch was electric and I didn't want him to let go.

"Can I please talk to you?" he asked his eyes were pleading.

"I told you in class today that I don't want to talk anymore," I said, void of emotion.

"That's what you said, but I didn't have a say. There are two people in this relationship, and I need you to hear what I have to say," he looked intense. I didn't say anything, and he pulled me into his dorm room. I backed up against the wall and he put his arms on either side of me so I couldn't dodge him.

"This isn't fair," he stated, his face close to mine. "You never asked me how I felt about this. I know you were freaked out, and I also know that this isn't over."

I stared at him for a moment, completely dumb struck. I had no idea what to say. I took a deep breath.

"It's over," I said plainly. He searched my eyes for a moment.

"You believe that but it's not what you want," he said

"Please, don't make this harder than it already is," I pleaded, for what I hoped was the last time.

"If it's so hard than why does it have to be this way? It was so easy to be together, why do you have to do this to yourself? Why do you have to do this to me? I know you have your plan and everything, but is it really yours, or is it what your parents want from you? You don't have to be afraid." His voice was gentle and I closed my eyes, listening to what he was saying.

"It's my plan," I stated. I knew that I had to be firm, and maybe even mean to get it through to him that we were never going to be together. "I've already moved on Tyler. I'm sorry but I'm going to The Fall Fest with Aaron." This was a low blow and I knew it. He looked like I had just slapped him, and I might as well have. He stepped back from me and ran a hand through his hair.

"If that's how you want it then fine. I won't get in your way. I just hope that you figure out what _you _want before it's too late." He looked at me like he felt sorry for me. It was almost worse than if he hated me.

I walked over to the door and opened it. I looked back at him. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he looked so sad. I was going to apologize, but then I thought better of it. I closed the door quietly behind me.

The tears started falling before I had the chance to reach my room. I passed by a blur of people on my way, not really caring if they saw me.

I burst through the door of my room and landed on my bed. If this was the right thing, why did it feel so bad?

I slithered out of my coat and tossed it on the floor along with my new dress. I curled up in a ball and sobbed. I had never sobbed before in my life. My stomach felt like it was going to come out of my mouth. I felt like I was going to throw up. The only good that came of this was that it was exhausting. I fell into a dreamless sleep around eight o'clock.

The next day I woke up, and felt well rested. It was noon time, which I wasn't too late for me to be waking up on a Saturday. Then I remembered; The Fall Fest was tonight.

All the events of yesterday came flooding back to me. I wanted to roll over and go back to sleep, but my growling stomach thought otherwise.

I changed my clothes, and then made a much needed trip down to the dinning hall for lunch.

When I got down to the dinning hall I spotted Sarah. She was on her way out. She gave me a little nod and a half smile. I guess the news of what I did to Tyler got to her already. She looked stressed out as well.

"Hey," I said as she walked by.

"Hi," she replied, seeming distracted. That was odd for her.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She looked at me like I was missing something.

"You didn't hear?" she asked. My stomach dropped. What if something had happened to Tyler?

"Hear what?" I replied, slowly

"Kate's in the hospital with some kind of spider bites all over her and she's not conscious and Pogue was in a motorcycle accident and he's in critical condition," she said this very quickly.

"Oh God." Was all I could really say. I couldn't believe it. This seemed so unreal. I wondered if it had to do with the power at all? Tyler said that he would never use it to hurt someone, but he wasn't the only one who had it. What if someone else wanted to Use to cause destruction?

"I have to get going," Sarah said, bring me back to reality. I wondered if she knew about the power yet. She looked worried about so much that it was hard to tell. "I'll call you if anything changes."

"Okay. Thank you," I said, touching her hand. She squeezed it, and then set off across the quad.

I grabbed some food and ate it slowly. Kate and Pogue both being hurt was just too much of a coincidence. I knew that this had to do with the power.

As I was thinking about Kate and Pogue, Aaron dropped down into the seat next to me.

"What time do you want me to come by your room?" he said wiggling his eyebrows, implying the wrong thing, but I was too distracted to care.

"Whenever, I really don't care."

"How about six?" he suggested.

"Fine," I replied curtly.

"So I'll see you at six?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said shortly. I knew I was being a bitch but I really didn't care. There were more important things than The Fall Fest right now.

I got up and left the dining hall, walking fast to get up to my room.

Mel was walking in the same direction, and caught up with me. It was just my luck. I didn't want to talk to anyone at all and here was Mel, ready to talk my ear off.

"Did you hear about Kate and Pogue?" she asked.

"Yeah I did," I stated.

"That's something huh? What bad luck," she said annoyingly.

"Yup," I said back. She didn't get the hint that I didn't want to talk.

"I'm not even going to The Fall Fest tonight," she said sadly.

"Really?" I replied, not even trying to sound like I cared.

"Yeah. Chase can't go and I don't want to go by myself, so I'm just going to hang out alone." I wasn't even listening to her. Caleb and Reid passed by us, seemingly in deep conversation. I was trying to hear what they were saying, but with Mel talking my ear off, I couldn't hear a thing.

"I have to go get ready," I told her snippily.

"Okay," she said, not detecting the annoyed undertone of my voice. "Tell me how it goes."

"I will." I forced a smile, which probably looked more like a grimace, and walked away alone.

Something was off here.

I was ready by six and waiting for Aaron. He was an hour late and half drunk as expected.

"You look hot tonight," he stated. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his arm and led him down the stairs.

When we got the ballroom, I scanned the room for the Sons. I saw Reid, Sarah and Tyler over by themselves. There was no Caleb in sight. None of them looked happy, in fact, they all looked stressed, tired and worried. I wanted to talk to them and ask what was going on, but I knew I couldn't.

"Wanna dance?" Aaron asked in slurred speech.

"No thanks," I declined. "I need to go to the bathroom." I needed to get away from Aaron for a while. He wouldn't even notice I was gone.

I wandered around the room for a while. Every few minutes, I would look up to see Reid, Sarah and Tyler in the same spot. They were like that for a long time. Then one time I looked up and they were gone. I was just wondering where they were, and where Caleb was, when Tyler surprised me.

He tapped me on the shoulder, and I spun around fast, surprised to see him. He didn't look too good. He looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep.

"Have you seen Sarah?" he asked worriedly. All the harshness from yesterday seemed to be gone.

"No. The last I saw she was with you." He was making me nervous. People wandered away from each other all the time. If he was this worried it must mean something important. But _what _did it mean. I was dying to know, but I couldn't ask. I had a feeling it was something bad.

"Maybe she went to the bathroom," I offered weakly.

"No, I already checked."

"Do you need me to help you?" I asked. He shook his head, and continued to search.

I was on edge. What was going on here? I followed him to where Reid was standing, being sure to keep out of their sight.

"Anything?" Reid asked.

"Nothing," Tyler responded.

"Shit!" Reid exclaimed. "That mother fucker probably got her!"

"We don't know that." Tyler said unconvincingly. I could tell he was lying. Who were they talking about?

"If Chase has her, that's just going to make things harder for Caleb," Reid said. He looked at his watch. "He's Ascending in ten minutes. We have to go help him."

"You're right," Tyler said. They looked at each other, and then headed off to Tyler's Hummer. I followed behind them. I had the keys to Aaron's truck. He was drunk and I took them from him, not wanting to end up dead later.

Without missing a beat I was behind the wheel and following Reid and Tyler at a safe distance. All I knew was that Caleb and Sarah were in trouble, and that Chase was the bad guy that I'd known him to be this entire time. If there was something I could do to help, I would do it. Even if it was just a distraction to give them more time, it would be worth it.

I sped up a little, to keep the Hummer in sight. I had a new sense of purpose. I needed to help my friends. I had no idea what I'm getting myself into, and I didn't really care. This felt right, and there was no turning back.

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**Thank you for reading and please review!**


	9. On Fire

**New chapter! And it's a big action sequence with uncertain results.**

**The song for this one is "Stand My Ground" by Within Temptation.- Link in my profile**

**Please remember to review!**

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**Chapter 9**

**On Fire**

I followed the Hummer down the old, familiar back roads, going well over the speed limit. They were headed to where the old Ipswich colony houses were. Finally I saw brake lights flash up ahead on the back of the Hummer and I slowed Aaron's truck, hiding around the bend so they couldn't see me. They pulled over violently onto the side of the road and flung their doors open. It was no surprise to see Reid explode out from the drivers seat. I waited thirty seconds, and then quietly opened my door to follow them.

"Reid! Wait!" Tyler called out. Reid stopped-mid stride and turned to face his best friend.

"We don't have time to wait!" Reid yelled back, panicky. "He's a psycho Ty; he could be hurting them right now!"

"We can't just barge in there," Tyler explained. "We need to listen first; we need to know what we're doing, or we're all as good as dead." Reid let out a frustrated sigh, but followed Tyler up to the Putnam barn.

If I let them get too far away, they'd be out of ear shot. I bent down and took off my heels that were sinking into the mud and discarded them in the nearest bush. Carefully I followed, making sure to keep a safe distance. I had no idea what I was doing but I couldn't leave now. It was like they said; someone could be killed, and I wasn't about to let that happen.

Reid and Tyler were near the door, listening intently on whatever was making the huge crashes I could hear from my crouched position behind a wagon over twenty five feet away. Part of me dying to know what was going on so that I could somehow help but the other part wanted nothing more than to leave in ignorance. Ignorance and safety.

Flashes of light were coming through the windows. I was so amazed that I didn't notice even I had moved. I unconsciously stepped out from behind the wagon I was hiding behind, trying to get a better look at the strange lights. I stepped on a twig that caused such a loud snap that both Reid and Tyler almost jumped out of their skin.

"What are you doing here?" Reid yelled at me. I didn't know what to say. After all that had happened it was hard to say that it was because I cared. After how I had behaved over the last few days, me saying that I cared would be laughable to them. Tyler just looked at me like he didn't believe I was really there. He quickly snapped out of it.

"You can't be here," he said; it was like he was pleading with me. "I'll explain everything later, but please, go back to the dorms."

"I can't," I said. My voice was horse, and I was shaking. "You know that I can't just leave."

"Please? This is dangerous. Chase has more power than we do, and he won't hesitate to kill you if you get in his way."

"I want to help. I care about Caleb and Sarah too. It's my right," I said, finding my voice. There was no way that I was leaving them all there. If anything happened I would never forgive myself for leaving. "Just let me help you."

There was another crash from inside the barn and Reid and Tyler looked at each other anxiously.

"There isn't any time for this," Reid said urgently looking at Tyler. Tyler nodded his head, and then looked me directly in the eyes.

"Stay here," he said sternly. Reid tugged his arm and Tyler followed him into the barn.

I looked after them, knowing not to follow. They would stop me, and then it would take them even longer to get to Caleb and Sarah.

I waited two minutes and then moved closer to the barn to get a better look at what was going on. I could see Sarah levitating towards the back of the barn. I could hear Chase laughing from somewhere, but I couldn't see him; I couldn't see Caleb either.

"He Ascended already," Tyler stated looking at his watch. He looked worried; I didn't think he knew where Caleb was either.

Suddenly there was a movement from an old shattered pile of wood, and Caleb pulled himself out of it. He saw Reid and Tyler standing at the door and looked angry. Chase followed his gaze and laid eyes on the two of them by the door.

"I told you to stay away!" Caleb scolded. He looked at them angrily once he got over the shock of seeing them there.

"Like I said before," Reid said seriously. "We've got your back." Chase started to laugh.

"If you think that the two of you being here is going to change the fact that Caleb is going to die tonight, you are _so _wrong." He was still laughing like a lunatic. It was probably the most frightening thing I'd ever seen.

"Get out of here!" Caleb commanded. He looked angry, scared, and worried all at the same time. He was obviously losing, and he wanted to protect his brothers.

"We're not leaving you," Tyler said determined. With out warning, Chase threw a ball of energy at Caleb; he deflected it, but barely. It ricocheted off him and hit one of the ancient pillars to his left. It crumbled taking a chunk of the ceiling with it. The boys all covered their heads, and spread out. It would have been no use letting Chase take them all out at once.

It was obvious that Caleb and Chase were the most powerful. Reid and Tyler were helping, but they were only capable of creating minor distractions. Every time either one of them made an advance Chase would just swat them away before turning his attention back to Caleb.

Walls were being blown apart, wood and dirt were flying everywhere, and the Sons weren't gaining any visible advantage.

I was just standing there, unable to move, and unable to help. The people I cared about most in the world were in danger and there was nothing I could do about it.

The wall that I was near was suddenly blasted. It took me by surprise and I hit the deck. When I landed I was clearly visible to Tyler who was standing near me, and to Chase, who was across the barn from me.

"Well well well, if it isn't Melly's ex best friend. You should fit in well with your little boyfriend and his brothers. They're good at betrayal. Just. Like. You." Chase started to form a ball of energy with a malicious look on his face. I knew he was going to try and hurt me, but all I could do was stare at him.

"Murphy, move!" Tyler yelled to me. I didn't hesitate; I rolled over and hid under an over turned cart that had been thrown outside when the wall was hit.

What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion. Tyler was looking over his shoulder at me. Our eyes met, and I felt every emotion for him that I had been trying to suppress as strongly as ever. I loved him, and I always would. This danger meant nothing. All that mattered was that I loved him, and in that instant, I could see in his eyes that he loved me too, more than anything.

Then I saw movement in the background. Chase lifted his arm, and sent a wave of powerful energy directly at Tyler. It hit him square in the chest, and he was launched into the nearest wall. I could hear the crack as his head slammed into the wall from where I was thirty yards away, and it was all my fault. The eyes which had held so much love for me only moments before, were closed. I wished it was me who was in danger, not him, never him.

I let out a gasp and immediately scrambled up from my safe spot to go to him. What I hadn't noticed was that when Chase had hit him, he had knocked over a lantern. There was now a huge wall of fire separating me from Tyler. If I didn't get to him in the next few moments, he would be dead if he wasn't already. Tears of smoke blurred my vision, and I was half crazed by fear. He had to be alright, I loved him. I had to tell him, he needed to know that I loved him, and that I was wrong. I couldn't live without him.

Caleb, Chase, and Reid were all outside now. The fighting was thankfully away from us. I quickly looked around, trying to find any way to reach Tyler. Thankfully there were so many holes in the walls of the old barn that there were ways for me to get around, but I didn't have much time.

I circled around the outside of the barn, trying to find the best place to enter. I finally found one, and I clumsily barreled into it. I didn't care that I had no shoes on or that I might get burned. The only thing that mattered is that I got Tyler out of the barn, and somewhere safe.

I caught my foot on the opening, and fell over, narrowly missing the flames. Pulling myself up, I threw myself forward, dragging my dress through the flames. I didn't have much time! I quickly and desperately patted my dress until the flames were gone. There would no doubt be a severe burn there, but I couldn't feel it, at least not now; I was too focused.

The distance from where I entered and where Tyler was laying was further than I had anticipated, but there was no other way. I trudged through the debris and finally came upon him.

I bent down next to him and felt his pulse; it was there, but barely. There was no time to waste. I needed to get him out of there. The fire was closing in and there was so much distance to cover.

"I love you," I whispered in his ear, even though I knew that he couldn't hear me. I grabbed his arms, and started to pull him in the direction of the safe path out that was getting more and more dangerous by the second.

I tugged and pulled as hard as I could, but we were going too slowly. At this rate we would be dead in a matter of minutes. I could try harder than this. I could get him out. I was trying to think positively, but the flames were closing in, licking the backs of my heels and making it harder for me to breathe. I couldn't give up and I wouldn't give up, even if it took me to my dying breath, I wouldn't leave him in there.

His pant leg caught fire, and I had to let go of his arms to put it out with my hands. I could see the burns beginning to form from putting out the fire on our clothes. If my mind wasn't so set on saving Tyler, I would have passed out from shock and pain.

I was pulling him so hard that I could barely let out choking sobs and screamed pleas for help from God. I was never very religious, but today I hoped there was a God because I needed him. I was finally getting somewhere. We were more than halfway to the opening.

I couldn't breathe. Every time I tried to intake some oxygen, it felt like I was choking on smoke. There was no air in any breath that I took. This only inspired me to pull harder. I was almost there. My hands were in so much pain, that I almost couldn't hold on. I could feel the skin being pulled off of my hands. With on last step, I pulled Tyler out onto the lawn, and collapsed. The sudden oxygen was too much for me to handle and I threw up in the grass.

Tyler was lying on the grass, still not moving. I stood over him in my now ruined dress, with the rain pouring from the sky. The ash from the fire blended in with the gray of my dress, the wind and rain washing it away. I could feel the steam burning my legs but I didn't care. I could hear Caleb still fighting with Chase, but that didn't matter. I fell to my knees next to Tyler, sinking into the mud.

"Wake up," I demanded in a raspy voice that wasn't my own. "Please look at me Tyler," I pleaded. He still wasn't moving. I started to sob uncontrollably. Loud, heart wrenching sobs. "I love you! Please wake up?" There was so much energy gone from my body that I couldn't hold myself up in the propped position anymore. With one last sob, I collapsed onto Tyler's chest.

I woke up in a hospital bed two days later, not knowing if he was dead or alive.

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**Please review it means a lot!**


	10. After Shock

**Here is the new chapter and I can say that we're about halfway through. I've thought out the plot a lot more and there will definitely be a sequel to this story, but more about that as we come closer to it.**

**The song for this chapter is "Running Up That Hill" by Placebo.-Link in my profile.**

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**Chapter 10**

**Shock**

For what seemed like forever, my mind was plagued with strange dreams, but they all coursed together in a continuous stream, suddenly changing without my realizing it. The dreams were both happy and sad things. I saw a funeral, with everyone I knew there except one person, the person who really mattered. I saw a wedding, with everyone looking happy and sad at the same time. I saw a child with bright blue eyes and another with green, both looking up at me. I saw myself in pain, and then laughing. Tyler's face appeared and stayed longer than the others had. He was pictured, clear as crystal, smiling and laughing like he always did. I studied his face, never wanting to look at anything else, but when he too disappeared, I cried out at the loss. The blackness that replaced him was unyielding, and I couldn't help but reach out and try to pull him back to me. When my fingertips only grasped air, I let out a frustrated moan, like a wounded animal.

Someone was calling my name but it seemed so far away. I tried to follow the voice, but as soon as I felt I was getting close it would fade away and I would have to start searching all over again.

"Murphy," It taunted. I was near tears trying to find it, trying to get out of this black hole to something familiar and real.

I felt something grab me, and my eyes finally shot open. I sat up so fast that it made my head spin. It took me a second to figure out where I was, and to focus on my surroundings. Plain white walls surrounded me; that standard, horrible antiseptic smell clinging to them. The events at the barn started to filter back to me and I could feel the blood drain from my face. I looked to my right, and saw what had woken me up. Caleb was sitting in a chair next to my bed, his hand was still on my arm. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, with a worried expression on his face.

"Are you alright?" Caleb asked, concerned. It took me a minute to catch my breath.

"Where's Tyler?" I asked forcefully. He was all I could think about. Caleb ignored my question, but I knew he heard me.

"You've been out for two days. I heard you making noises like you were in pain." He took my hand now and it was comforting. Do you remember anything about the other night?"

"I guess," I answered vaguely, trying to recall the horrifying events.

"You got burned pretty badly but the good news is you won't need skin grafts and your burns are already healing pretty well. The bad news is you'll have scaring." He was telling me about my injuries, but I wasn't really listening, my mind was elsewhere. I was done being selfish.

"I need to see him, Caleb," I pleaded. He looked at me with softness in his eyes.

"You need to rest, Murphy," he said in a soft voice.

"You know I can't. You know that if the last time you saw Sarah was when she was dying in your arms, you would need to see her," I reasoned. "Just tell me if he's alive," I pleaded slightly hysterical. The look on his face was scaring me and I feared the worst. There was a long silence.

"He's alive," he finally said. Relief washed over me.

"Can I see him?" I asked.

"You're not supposed to leave your room," he started as he glanced over his shoulder through the open door, looking for any nurses, "but I'll help you."

"Thank you," I said as he got a wheel chair from the corner of the room. He slid the covers off over my legs, exposing an ugly, thin hospital gown, and a big bandage around my thigh. I knew it was going to be there, but I was still shocked to see it.

I reached over with my bandaged hands and yanked the IV out of my arm. Caleb looked at me like I was crazy, but didn't protest. The pain medication was in full effect, because I couldn't feel anything, but it made me dizzy and light headed. Caleb carefully lifted me out of my bed and gently lowered me into the wheel chair. He quickly pushed me out of the room and to the elevator.

"How is every one else? Did you take care of Chase?" I felt bad that I hadn't thought of everyone else before.

"I finished off Chase after you passed out. Reid took you and Tyler to the hospital. Sarah's fine. There wasn't a scratch on her. Kate has recovered fully, and Pogue still has some broken bones, but will be okay." Caleb left out the one person who I was dying to see.

"And Tyler?" I prompted

"He's in a coma, and the doctors can't wake him up; we don't know when he'll wake up. It could be minutes," He paused, his eyes boring a hole into the back of my head as he gauged my reaction, "or years. Or never." I took this in silently, not wanting to show Caleb how upset I was. What had I done?

We reached the fourth floor, and Caleb pushed me out of the elevator. I was really grateful for everything he had done for me. Talking to me about Tyler, and helping me now. He was like the older brother I never had.

We turned the corner and Caleb pushed me straight into Tyler's room. Reid was sitting next to Tyler and telling him every detail about what sounded like Caleb's defeat of Chase.

"You've told him that story a hundred times," Caleb joked as Reid looked up.

"The doctor said that he could probably hear us, and I want to make sure he gets it," Reid responded as he walked over to us. He took my bandaged hands in his and kissed me on the forehead.

"Thank you for saving him, little sister." I smiled at him as Caleb pushed me over to Tyler's bed.

I grabbed his limp hand the moment I was close enough and held it tight, ignoring the dull pain in my hands.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to him, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "I love you," I whispered again. That was all I needed to say to him. As long as he knew that, I would be okay.

Sarah burst into the room a moment later carrying my duffel bag.

"You're awake!" she exclaimed. She came over to me and gave me a soft hug. "I brought your favorite sweat pants and a sweat shirt," she said, walking over to me. "Do you need any help?"

"I think so," I said, hating to admit it, but I could hardly stand.

Sarah pushed me into the bathroom that was connected to Tyler's room. Once we got in there, she closed the door. She took out my favorite pair of Tyler's sweatpants that I had stolen from him when we'd started dating, and rolled up one of the legs, waiting for me to put my foot in it like she was dressing a little kid. She carefully rolled the pant leg up, and paused when she got to where the bandages started. I lifted my butt a little bit out of the chair, and she slid the pants over my butt.

"I still can't believe you pulled him from the barn," she said, trying to make small talk. "You saved his life, he was lucky you were there." I had to resist rolling my eyes. Every one was calling me a hero when I wasn't one at all. I was the reason he lost focus in the first place. I didn't deserve them being nice to me.

Sarah pulled a sports bra, a t shirt and my favorite sweatshirt out of the bag. She took of my hospital gown and threw it in the trash. I held up my arms and she pulled them over my head gently. When we were finished, Sarah pushed me back into Tyler's room.

Caleb and Reid were gone, and there was a woman sitting in the chair next to Tyler's bed. She had clear blue eyes and she looked tired and stressed. Sarah wheeled me over next to her, and secured the break on my wheelchair. She looked at the woman, and it seemed like they communicated telepathically for an instant.

"I'm going to see how Pogue is doing, but I'll see you later," she told me giving my shoulder an encouraging squeeze.

"See you later," I responded as she retreated towards the door.

"I'm Rose, Tyler's mother," the woman said as she stuck her hand out and I shook it, feeling awkward with the bandages on my hands.

We sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, with her gazing at Tyler. She pushed his hair out of his eyes and looked like she was trying so hard not to cry, and that broke my heart. It was all my fault that he was here. If I had just listened to him, he would be alright.

"We tried to call your parents, but we couldn't reach them," she said seriously.

"I'm not too surprised," I told her. She looked at me curiously, and I covered my tracks. "They're really hard to reach, that's all." She could tell that there was more to the story, but she let it go.

"Since you're a minor, the hospital is letting me be your temporary guardian, so I'm having you released today. I've talked to Mrs. Danvers, and you'll be staying with Caleb and until your fit enough to go back to school," she explained. "I would let you stay with us, but we're not sure when Tyler's going to wake up," she cringed, "so I thought you would be more comfortable staying with a friend than with me."

"Thank you so much," I told her. "I know you've done a lot for me while I've been out."

"It's the least I could do after what you've done for me."

"But it's because of me that he's like this," I choked out. She looked up from him and met my eyes, taking my hands in hers.

"Don't you blame yourself for one minute," she scolded me like I was a small child. "You saved his life and that's all that matters. If you weren't there, he might have been trapped in the barn anyway, and he would surely be dead; there's no way of knowing." Tears began to fill her eyes. "All I know is that you gave him the chance to live and that's all anyone can ask for, so thank you for saving my boy's life." I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked down, not wanting to cry. She made me feel a little better, but the guilt was still overwhelming.

"But if I only listened to him…" I said mostly to myself, but she heard me.

"Tyler would never blame you," she said softly, and crouched next to me, giving me a hug. "Just know that."

She squeezed my hands, and then placed them on my lap as she stood up. She ran her fingers through Tyler's hair, and then kissed him on the forehead.

"I'm going to talk to the doctors again," she said to me. "Talk to him. I know he'll hear you."

She crossed the room and closed the door behind her, leaving me alone with Tyler's sleeping form. I sat for a moment in silence, not knowing what to say. Could he really hear me?

I used my wrists to push myself out of chair, and stand shakily next to his bed. I leaned back so my butt landed gently on the side of his bed. Then came the hard part. I ignored the pain and swung my legs onto the bed, and then flipped over onto my stomach, laying my head on his chest. The pain it took me to be near him was part of my punishment, and I accepted it.

"If I could make a deal with God and trade places with you, I would. This is all my fault and I'm so sorry." There weren't enough ways for me to apologize. What I did would never be alright.

I didn't realize how tired I was until then. Despite my best efforts, sleep overcame me and I drifted off into uneasy nothingness, still curled into Tyler's still body.

I woke up later to someone stroking my hair. My heart jumped to my throat as my eyes connected with two beautiful bright blue ones.

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**Still to come are big plot twists, unlikely allies and LOTS of family history.**


	11. Some Kind of Wonderful

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update! I've been having some serious laptop issues. It all worked out for the best though because I wrote this chapter in a hurry and it wasn't what I really wanted. But with the great laptop crash of 2010 I was forced to rewrite and now I'm happy with it and I hope that all of you are to! **

**The song for this chapter is "Stripped" by the Shiny Toy Guns- Link in my Profile **

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**Chapter 11**

**Some Kind of Wonderful**

I stayed at Caleb's house for a few days before going back to school. Tyler was still in the hospital, and I was there with as much as I could as he recovered. We both had a lot of work to catch up on, and Kate took the liberty of bringing us our school work much to our dismay. I wasn't looking forward to going back to school and being the subject to hundreds of stares. Everyone knew that something strange had happened at the barn, and with one of our top students missing, it had turned into a full blown scandal.

I closed my Calculus book in triumph and looked at Tyler who was sitting up across from me on the hospital bed. He was concentrating on his work, but looked like he was getting nothing done. He dropped his pen and rubbed his temples.

"Are you okay?" I asked moving closer to him. He looked up like he was surprised to see me.

"I just have a head ache," he responded. He reached out his hands to me and I took them. He pulled me closer, and I rested my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes and letting the feeling of security drift over me. This was almost over. Once the whole Chase situation blows over with the public, we could just be happy.

I fell into a light sleep, dreaming of the rest of my life with Tyler. I was going to marry him and I was one hundred percent sure of that fact. I would never let him out of my sight again; I don't think I could take that.

xxx One Week Later xxx

Tyler was waiting for me outside of my dorm room. People were rushing by us, their hushed whispers hitting my ears. I knew they were talking about us, and I tried my hardest not to listen.

"Ready?" he asked me, holding out his hand for me to take.

"Ready," I said back, fitting my hand into his as we walked down the hallway to the stairs. His hand felt a little funny against the skin of my palms. They had healed unusually fast, and I had learned that this was a gift from Pogue and Reid.

"I thought you couldn't heal people," I said to them when I found out that they had helped me.

"We can't," Pogue confirmed, "but we can help your body deal with things that aren't impossible for it to get rid of on its own." I nodded but didn't really understand.

I paused looking up at the main academic building of Spencer where I had English and Tyler had calculus. Tyler saw that I was hesitant.

"I'm not fully opposed to ditching you know," he said. I could tell he was kind of serious, and I couldn't help but agree. The responsible part of my brain kicked in and my heart fell.

"All of our teachers know that we're supposed to be coming back today, and we're already so far behind…" I trailed off, I could hear myself being annoying. I leaned my head against his shoulder and he laughed at me.

"Come on," he teased, "We wouldn't want to be late." He dragged me into the building and I was thrust into a day of too much work and not so hidden whispers. It was unfortunate when I caught a few that said I had something to do with the fact that Chase was missing. Caleb had asked the police if they found someone else, and they had said no. There was no official statement that said that Chase's disappearance and the fire were related, but you could rely on the student body to put two and two together in the most devastating way possible.

The day went by slowly, only broken up by lunch where I could take comfort in my friends. Mel waved at me and I waved back but I didn't talk to her. She didn't look too sad, but I guess it has been over a week and she's never been one to mope.

My winning cross country season was basically over. It was the end of the season when I got hurt. I went back to practice the day I got back, and States was the next day. There was no way in hell I would be ready for that. I would painfully sit on the side lines and watch my team run without me. It was the same for Tyler. The swim team headed to States minus one of its best. He was going to college for swimming and luckily the scouts had already spotted him. I wasn't running in college so this was bitter sweet for me. I would run on my own, but running on a team was just a little more special.

The rest of the school year flew by pleasantly. Soon people stopped whispering about the fire and my life was as I hoped it would be that day I was dreaming in the hospital. Tyler and I only grew closer. He was my best friend and I loved him more than I could ever say. We had our little fights, but they only made me love him more, especially when he proved me wrong. I was changing for the better are he was the one making that change happen. I was learning to let go of things and have more fun. I was the happiest I'd ever been.

Caleb and Sarah were still going strong as ever. The three of us had gotten into Harvard and were headed there in the fall. Tyler was off to Northeastern along with Kate. Pogue and Reid were going to Boston College. Reid's girlfriend Allison was going to Mass Art. We were all going to be close, so Kate, Sarah, Allison and I were sharing a cute four bedroom apartment in the city, a block away from the apartment the boys were sharing. We were all set up for next year and everything was going perfectly. One more month to graduation and we were out of here, able to get on with our real lives.

"Hello?" a groggy Tyler answered the phone.

"Are you okay?" I asked concerned. I was calling him to inquire why he hadn't met me at my dorm door like he was supposed to. When he'd answered like that, I dropped the attitude that I was going to give him instantly. Was he alright? It wasn't like him to stand me up.

"Sorry!" he replied with more energy. I could hear him stumble out of his bed. "I took a nap because I had a killer headache and I slept more than I meant to, I'll be over in a minute," he explained, and then hung up before I had the chance to reply.

Five minutes later there was a knock on the door. I opened it and Tyler came bursting through.

"I'm so sorry!" he said again, leaning over to kiss my cheek. "I don't know why my alarm didn't wake me," he continued.

"Are you feeling okay?" I asked again, putting my hand to his forehead. "You look awful. We don't have to go out tonight if you don't want to," I offered. He looked sick to say the least. There were big bags under his eyes and he looked very pale.

"It's only because I just woke up," he explained. "I'll feel better once I start moving around."

I just nodded and let him lead me away from my dorm. He wasn't acting normal; he was a little jittery, not exactly the laid back Tyler that I know. _He did just wake up from a nap, _I told myself.

"I think I'll drive," I said as Tyler was reaching for his keys. He still seemed a little off and I didn't want him falling asleep at the wheel of the Hummer.

"Okay," he agreed, dropping the keys back into his pocket.

We entered Nicky's and I immediately spotted Caleb, Sarah, Kate, Pogue, Reid, and his girlfriend Allison at our usual table. Reid and Allison had been dating since December and she had "tamed the beast" so to speak. She was head strong enough to tell Reid off when he needed it and they have the most equal relationship that Reid has ever been in, and the longest. Allison was a real fire ball but she was also undeniably sweet and was instantly accepted into our group. She went to Ipswich High School so her and Sarah got along particularly well.

"I wish this rain would stop," Tyler stated as he took his wet jacket off and hung it on the back of his chair.

"It _is _April," Kate pointed out.

"Yeah but still," he replied sitting in his usual spot between me and Caleb and across from Reid.

We chatted like always, talking about next year, and how excited we were to live in the city. While we were talking, I couldn't help but notice that Tyler was oddly distant. He kept rubbing his temples like he still had one of his headaches.

"Do you want to leave?" I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder. "If you have another headache it would be better to leave, it's really loud in here," I whispered in is ear. He nodded and I stood up, taking his hand.

"We're gonna call it a night," I said to the others.

"You're still coming to the beach tomorrow though, right?" Caleb asked us.

"Yeah man," Tyler answered, "We'll be there,"

"See you later," Reid said as we backed away from the table.

"See you."

Silently Tyler climbed into the passenger's seat of my car. I took a deep breath knowing that we were about to get into a fight, but it needed to be said.

"I'm really worried about you," I said, and he visibly flinched.

"Why, there's nothing wrong with me, I'm just stressed from school that's all," he argued feebly.

"Why? This should be a non stressful time. We're already into college, and school is practically over. I know that's not the reason so why don't you tell me what you really think?" I retorted.

"If you're so smart Murphy, why don't you tell me what's wrong with me?" he snapped. I was taken aback. This was so unlike him it was scary. I tried to shrug the remark off and continued.

"I think it has something to do with what happened back in November," I said slowly. "I think you should go to the doctor," I continued cautiously, "just to make sure every thing's okay."

"Why should I go when there's nothing wrong with me?" he replied. We pulled up to the dorms and I cut the engine, turning to face him.

"I don't believe that and neither should you," I said.

"Because you know everything Murphy, because you're always right," he snapped again. I couldn't believe this. This wasn't the Tyler that I know. I knew I was going to have to play dirty, so I said the thing that would make him do what I wanted. Despite him being mean to me, I knew that he would never want to let me go.

"You're not acting like yourself Ty. If you don't go and find out if somethings wrong I don't think I can be with this person you've become." It was a lie, I would never leave him, but he was being so unreasonable that I had to scare him.

He got out of the car, slammed the door, and started head towards the dorms. I followed.

"Tyler, wait!" I yelled after him, starting to run to keep up with him. He froze and turned around. His eyes turned from a black fury, back to the soft blue that I loved. He looked scared, and I knew that my Tyler was back. I met him with a hug and he wrapped his arms around me like he hadn't seen me in months.

"I'm sorry Murph," he said sadly. "I'm just scared. What if there really is something wrong with me?" I hugged him harder.

"You're probably fine," I assured him, "we just want to be safe." The words were comforting, but neither of us believed them.

"Can I stay with you tonight?" he asked worriedly.

"Of course," I responded. We walked up the stairs and into my empty room. Keira was gone as usual, and we changed our clothes and settled into my bed. I cuddled into his chest and he wrapped his arms around me.

"I don't really feel like it tonight, if that's okay," he said softly kissing the top of my head. We started having sex back in February, and usually when one of us spent the night we would sleep together.

"It's alright," I yawned, and cuddled closer to him, turning my face up for a kiss which he met.

"I'll go to the doctor tomorrow I promise," he whispered.

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**Please Review!**


	12. Author's Note

Hello devoted followers!

Unfortunately this is not a new chapter, just an update on what's going on with this story. I know I don't update that often, and I know that it's probably caused people to lose interest in the story, and for that, I am very sorry, but there is also good news. Chapter 12 is written, it just needs to be edited so that will probably be done within a week or so. I've also started chapter thirteen so that's going pretty well.

I'm thinking that there's will maybe be about six or seven chapters left to this story, and all of them will have very important things in them, having to do with the history of the Son's of Ipswich and an unlikely alliance. That's all that I can really say, without giving too much away ;)

I've started out lining the sequel and it's going to be called Mirror Image, so look out for that hopefully within the next few months. I can't tell you anything about that just yet, because it will completely give away the ending and climax of this story.

Also, starting either today or tomorrow, I'm starting a companion to this story called Bass Ackwards Outtakes, which will be a series of one shots that will include things like what Tyler thinks of Murphy when they see each other in chapter one, and other things from a variety of different points of view. A lot of it will be from what I like to call the lost weeks, which is the time between when Tyler gets out of the hospital, and when the story picks up again in April. It's basically going to be the stuff that I couldn't really fit in the story, but would be fun to write, and hopefully fun to read.

Thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing it means so much to me and I hope that you will all continue to read my story because I am very excited about where this is going.


	13. One Foot In, One Foot Out

**Finally an update! This is the last calm chapter before the storm.**

**The song for this one is "Unusual You" by Britney Spears. The words just describe Murphy's feelings for Tyler perfectly.- Link in my profile.**

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**Chapter 12**

**One Foot in, One Foot Out**

I woke up the next morning alone. Reaching out to my bedside table, I groped for the note I knew Tyler would leave. Finally I opened my eyes as I brought the paper up to my face and read.

_Good Morning,_

_I called ahead to the doctor this morning and they said they could take me at 9:00 to run some tests. I'll be back sometime before noon._

_Love,_

_Ty_

I rolled over to my other side and examined the clock. It was 11:30. I arched my back in one final stretch, and then tossed the covers off of me, letting the new found warmth of spring touch my bare legs. The sun was coming through the cracks in the shade and I could tell that it was going to be the beautiful day that everybody had longed for.

Quickly I packed a bag for the beach. I decided to put my bathing suit on, even though the water would still be too cold to swim in. The boys were going surfing while the girls and I were going to enjoy the first warm day of the year.

As I finished packing, I heard the door open behind me as Tyler strolled into the room. I didn't want to admit it but I was more worried than he was. What if there really was something wrong with him?

"Hey," he said coming closer and wrapping his arms around me. I reached up to kiss him and he met me halfway. The kiss made me shiver just like it did every day. When we parted he looked me in the eyes.

"Sorry for being such a douche yesterday," he apologized. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

"It's alright," I assured him, "I probably would have yelled at me too," I joked. The need to hold him, see him, touch him, was so potent that it hurt to think of what my life would be like without him by my side.

"So what did the doctor say?" I asked trying to keep the urgency from my voice; I didn't want to spook him.

"They ran a few tests, like M.R.I.'s and stuff after I told them what I was feeling. They said that they would get back to me later in the week when all the results were back." I nodded in reply, not wanting to talk about it anymore. We were going to have fun today and nothing could get in the way of that.

"You ready to go?" he asked while eying my bag.

"Yeah, do we need to stop by your place?" I asked, grabbing my keys to lock up my room.

"No, I picked up my board and stuff on the way here," Tyler replied as he took my scarred hand in his and left the room. As we approached the parking lot, I saw that Reid and Allison were already in the Hummer.

"Thanks for giving up the front seat for a lady," I scowled at Reid as I opened the door to the back seat and jumped in.

"Anytime Princess," he smirked in response. I glanced at Allison next to me and she rolled her eyes while trying to hide a grin.

"Seriously dude?" Tyler asked as he slid into the driver's seat.

"You're just lucky I didn't take your seat Baby Boy, now drive," Reid commanded as Tyler stuck the keys in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot.

Soon Tyler had pulled onto the dirt path that led to the Son's secret beach spot. The same spot where Tyler had brought me on out first date, and the same spot where I had broken up with him.

I shook the negative memory from my mind, and focused on Pogue's Chevy pickup, which was parked next to us. By the looks of it they had just arrived as well and the boys were still unloading the truck bed. Kate and Sarah were on the beach finding a good place to set up camp for the day. The Son's usually surfed once a week, and today was the first day that was warm enough for any of the girls to enjoy watching. When Tyler would come into the dorms still wet from a February surfing day just looking at him would give me the chills.

Allison and I left the boys to unpack as we walked down the beach and laid our blankets out next to the one Kate had already set up. I kicked my shoes off and buried my toes in the cool sand. It was about sixty degrees and sunny; a perfectly clear day.

"I can't believe we agreed to sit here all day and watch them have fun," Kate complained with a laugh.

"It's not like we would be doing anything else," Allison reasoned, "besides, now we can talk about them while they're not here. How long has it been since we had a good girl talk session without one of them lurking around?"

"True," Sarah chimed in, staring adoringly at Caleb as he zipped up the back of his wet suit and picked his board up.

"I can't wait until we all get old and are doing the exact same thing we are now," Allison mused as she lounged back on her blanket, shaking her chestnut hair behind her.

"I've never heard anyone say they couldn't wait to grow old," I considered with a smile.

"You know what I mean," she said with a small laugh.

The four of us were the only girls that the boys had ever trusted with their secret outside of their families, and there was a reason for that. The love that was between each of the couples was undeniable and as real as could possibly be. All eight of us worked together as a unit to protect the Covenant now. It was fate that we all attend the same small town. The only conclusion I could come up with was that it was meant to be.

I could imagine us, just like Allison had said, sitting on the same beach and watching our children play in the water. The thought brought a smile to my lips as I gazed out into the ocean, watching Tyler catch a good size wave on his surf board.

"What are you smirking about?" Kate asked me, catching my smirk.

"I was just thinking that today is a good day."

It truly was a good day. We continued to chat about the future including our painfully adorable children that would make an appearance in the next few years. It was all embarrassing fluff talk that we would never let the guys catch us doing, but it was really nice. Plus it got me thinking about the real future. When would I be able to have children? I had never really thought about it before. It had always been a part of my plan, but I had never put a time table on that aspect of my life, like I had so diligently done with everything else. My career was the only thing that I could concentrate on until Tyler, except now it seemed second to him and all of the other relationships that I had built over the past year. There was no doubt that I was going to be a journalist, but I felt like time was different now that I had a family.

Not too long after our baby talk the boys were done surfing, and Tyler flopped down next to me, and soaked the beach blanket.

"Hey!" I giggled as he wrapped his arms around me in tight hug, getting me all wet.

"I'm starving!" Reid complained as he opened Allison's bag looking for some food. He pulled out a crushed pack of gum with a look of disgust on his face.

"We could go to the seafood place on the pier?" Kate suggested. We all agreed, and after the boys all changed, we piled back into our vehicles and drove downtown. After we arrived, we got a nice long table on the deck looking out on the marina.

After a while I excused myself to go to the bathroom and when I opened the door on the way back to the table, Pogue was standing there.

"Are you waiting for me outside the bathroom?" I asked jokingly "Because if you are that's really creepy."

He laughed nervously at my remark, and then looked at me seriously. "I've been waiting for a chance to get one of you girls alone for the past week, and let me tell you; it's next to impossible," he said as he dug in his coat pocket for something.

"What's up?" I inquired, adopting his serious tone.

"I'm just really nervous about this," he spoke, pulling out a small black velvet box from his pocket and opening it, revealing a large pear shaped diamond set on a white gold band with smaller diamonds on it was revealed. My jaw nearly hit the floor at the sight of the ring.

"I want to ask Kate to marry me, but I wanted to ask one of you first; just to see if it's a good idea to do it so soon. I mean… I don't expect to get married until after college, but I just want her to know, you know?" he rambled on. It was a coincidence that this was happening on the same day that we were talking about getting married. He stared at me with obvious hope in his eyes.

"I think she'll love it!" I said trying to keep my voice down, although we were too far away from the table for anyone else to hear. "I know she'll say yes," I reassured him. Relief seemed to flood over him, along with joy as his face visibly relaxed.

"You really think so?" he asked just to be sure.

"Absolutely," I confirmed, as I smiled from ear to ear. It was just what she wanted. "I'm so happy for you!" I stepped forward to give him a hug.

"Thanks." He sounded much calmer than he had moments before. "Don't tell anyone though, Caleb's the only who knows. And I only told him because he caught me looking at the ring the other day," he warned.

"Scouts honor," I assured him, motioning like my lips were zipped shut.

"Not even Baby Boy," he pressed.

"I swear." I put my hand over my heart to prove my sincerity.

"You should go back first, so it doesn't look like we were talking," he added, glancing over towards the table. I gave him one last smile as I headed back over to the table, trying to wipe the smile off my face. A few moments later Pogue arrived.

"Where were you, taking a thunder dump?" Reid remarked, pointing out the length of Pogue's absence.

"Why so interested in what I do in the bathroom, Reid?" Pogue shot back.

"I just wanted to make sure everything came out alright," Reid replied with faux innocence.

"How do you put up with him?" Pogue asked Allison. She just laughed and kissed Reid on the cheek.

The sun had set by the time we finished eating and we all decided to watch a movie in Sarah and Kate's room before going to bed for an early night. Going to school wasn't so bad anymore considering we weren't doing anything. In a few weeks we would be free until we were in college.

The rest of the week flew by in blissful peace as the next weekend approached. Tyler and I were strolling back from the dining hall hand in hand on Friday night. The moon was full, and it kindly lit the path through the trees on the way back to the dorms. He had been unusually quiet that night during dinner, but I didn't want to ask what was wrong in front of everyone else.

"Are you alright?" I asked, tugging him around to face me and we stopped walking.

"I got a call from my mom today… the doctor called her," he began, his gaze fixed on the ground. My stomach dropped uncomfortably. "They said that they found something in my head, but that it's probably nothing, and that they need to run a few more tests." His gaze finally rose to meet mine.

I didn't know what to think; didn't they always tell people that it's probably nothing? I finally spoke after a prolonged stunned silence.

"Do you feel okay?" was all I could muster. Freaking out wouldn't help the situation. _It's probably nothing, _I told myself as I tried to look brave.

"It's going to be alright," he assured me, wrapping his arms around me. I buried my face in his shoulder. Shouldn't I be the one doing the comforting?

"I know you're going to be fine," was all I could say, even though I wasn't sure I believed it myself.

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**I would like to thank my new Beta mrsremusjohnlupin for editing this super quick! The next chapter should be along soon! Please review it means so much! There is also a picture of Kate's ring in my profile.**


	14. Cut Off

**This chapter and all of the ones after it will have very important plot development and hugely significant things that I have been dying to write since I started thinking of this story. **

**The song for this chapter is "House Jam" by Gang Gang Dance- Link on my profile.**

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**Chapter 13**

**Cut Off**

Tyler had made another appointment to go back to the doctors later in the week. When that day came, all I could do was put on a calm front for all of our friends, while I nervously glanced at my phone every few seconds awaiting a verdict.

By the time English rolled around, I wasn't even trying to look okay anymore. Tyler had gone to the doctor much earlier that morning, and had promised me that he would call as soon as he heard what was going on. It was after lunch and I still hadn't heard from him, which was causing me to fear the worst.

My fidgeting was getting worse by the minute and it didn't go unnoticed by my friends.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked eying my hands which were balled into tight fists on top of my desk.

"I'm fine," I assured her with my voice raising an octave higher than normal. I released the tension in my hands and gripped my pen, but I couldn't bring it onto the paper. I tapped it loudly on the desk until I earned a look from Caleb. As I glanced down at my phone for what seemed like the tenth time in the last minute, the bell rang and I sprang out of my seat without a word to Caleb or Sarah.

History class crawled by at a glacial pace but thankfully, it wasn't as bad as English because Pogue and Reid were both asleep, so they didn't notice my odd behavior. It was taking everything in me not to just get in my car and drive to his house, but I couldn't do that. That would be admitting that there was something wrong and I needed to believe that the reason why Tyler hadn't called yet was because there was nothing wrong. Maybe he and his mom were out to lunch celebrating because he was fine.

It was harder to fly under the radar in Physics because Caleb was my lab partner.

"Where's Tyler today?" he asked casually. I didn't know whether he was unusually perceptive and knew why I was so on edge, or he was just trying to make small talk.

"He's at a doctors appointment," I said slowly, trying to sound as normal as possible, even though I really wanted to spill my guts. I felt like I needed to tell someone how scared I was, and to have them say that I was crazy for being so nervous. I wanted someone to tell me that Tyler was fine, and that we would all be fine. I almost burst out right there in the middle of the lab, but I stopped myself. Tyler asked me not to tell anyone just yet, and I needed to honor that most of all. Tyler was the one that could be sick; this was about him, not me.

"Is there something you need to talk about?" Caleb asked concerned as I looked at my phone yet again but the bell rang so I seized the opportunity to ignore his question. I needed to get to the bathroom to check my voicemail.

"Look," Caleb started, grabbing my upper arm and turning me to face him before I could leave the room. "You look like someone died." It was a lame attempt at a joke, and when he saw that I wasn't laughing, he continued.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong?" His eyes were studying my face and I was trying my hardest to keep my composure.

Weighing the pros and cons of telling him in my head I came up with a solution. If there was nothing wrong, it wouldn't matter if he knew, and if there was, he would find out anyway.

"If I tell you, you have to swear that you won't tell anyone, not even Sarah or Pogue," I warned. I wanted to make sure that no one else found out before Tyler was ready to tell them.

"You have my word," he said as he led me outside to a cluster of benches in the deserted court yard. It was a beautiful sunny day, and neither of us were too keen on going to our next class.

"Did you and Tyler have a fight?" he asked before I could say anything.

"No, that's not it..." I trailed off. I couldn't find a way to say it without just blaring it out.

"I'm worried about him Caleb. He's been acting weird and not like himself, and he's been getting these really bad headaches so he decided to go to the doctor and get checked out thinking it was nothing, but the other day he told me that they found something in his head and that's where he is today, finding out what it is," I got it all out in one breath, and then looked to Caleb to gage his reaction.

"The doctor said that it was probably nothing, but I'm afraid that they always say that. I have this feeling that it's not going to be okay," I confided, letting a few tears slip down my cheeks and I roughly wiped them away. It felt better getting this off my chest, but I still didn't feel any less guilty about it.

"Wow," was all he could say. No doubt I had caught him off guard. He probably didn't think that what I had to say would affect him too. Tyler was one of his best friends; they grew up together, and shared the power. His loss would affect all of them in the most devastating way.

"Who else knows?" he asked, still remaining the calm person he always was.

"Just me and his parents; you're the first person I've told. I just needed to tell someone."

"I know, I understand," he said soothingly. "There's no sense getting all worked up about it now before we get the details," he reasoned. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"I just can't help feeling like this is my fault. When he hit his head in the barn..." I started, but Caleb interrupted.

"You don't know that," Caleb shut me down instantly. "You shouldn't talk like that especially now." I looked down feeling bad; I was once again thinking about myself even though I swore I wouldn't be selfish anymore.

"I'm just waiting for him to call me. He said he would right after he got out," I said looking at my phone again.

"It'll be fine," Caleb assured me, pulling me into a comforting hug. I hoped he was right.

The bell rang and we went our separate ways. I spent the rest of the agonizingly slow day checking and rechecking my voice mail. My nerves had hit an all time high when I got back to my room.

I put the phone on my vanity, pacing around my small room for an hour telling myself that he would call in the next two minutes over and over again. Finally I had enough, and decided to call him, but it went straight to voice mail. Frustrated I hung up and called again, but when that call too went to voice mail I grabbed my keys and headed to the door.

I knew that he wasn't going to be in his room, but I thought I would try before I left campus. I banged on the door, and it opened almost immediately.

"Is Tyler here?" I asked looking around Reid to see if Tyler was in the room behind him.

"I haven't seen him all day," he answered looking at me skeptically. "You look like shit," he commented with a concerned look in his eye.

"Yeah, well I'm just in a hurry," I offered quickly turning away and heading to the parking lot. I drove through the winding back roads of Ipswich as fast as humanly possible on my way to Tyler's house. Before I pulled into the driveway I saw the hummer and I felt a little better and a little worse at the same time. I was glad that I could see him, but I was also afraid of what he would say since he hadn't called me. I knocked on the door and waited impatiently for it to open. Tyler's mother Rose opened the door, not looking surprised to see me.

"Where is he?" I asked knowing that the rudeness in my lack of greeting would be forgiven.

"He's upstairs. Didn't he call you?" she asked concerned.

I shook my head no as I rushed past her to the stairs taking them two at a time. I slowed down when I reached the door, hesitating for a split second before rapping my knuckles against the wooden door. I waited for an answer, and when none came I didn't bother to knock again; I had waited too long just to be stuck behind a closed door.

The lights were off, causing the room to be filled with the uncomfortable half light of dusk. The muted TV cast dark shadows across his face which made reading his expression impossible. I hesitated when he didn't acknowledge me, but when I moved closer, I saw that his eyes were looking at the TV with a haunting emptiness, like he didn't really see anything at all.

"Ty?" I wasn't even sure if he'd heard me come in. He looked up at me with lost eyes; it took him a second to recognize me. "What happened?" I asked, but I already knew that it wasn't good. I took a few seconds to come to terms with that fact. I guess I had known it all along. He needed me and I was going to be there for him, because I loved him more than anything in the world, and infinitely more than myself.

"I just want today," he said slowly turning his head to look at me. "Tomorrow I'll be brave, but today I've never been so scared." He looked like a lost little boy; his watery blue eyes were heartbreaking. He wasn't crying and he was eerily calm and blank. He looked away from me, staring into space for another moment before he spoke again.

"I'm not going to live past my twenty third birthday." My heart dropped, but I had to admit that this wasn't completely unexpected. I had thought the worst was true, and it was. All of my anxiety had prepared me for the worst. I sat down next to him and he didn't protest as he curled into me placing his head in my lap.

"I love you," he stated, still staring off into the middle distance. "Don't forget it."

"I love you too," I replied as I started to stroke his hair the way that always made him fall asleep. "You don't forget that either." I whispered kissing the side of his head. About ten minutes later he fell asleep and I was left alone in his room with the sound of his rhythmic breathing. I wasn't going to be able to ask him about his condition any time soon, so I decided to go down stairs and see if I could talk to his parents about what happened.

I descended the stairs slowly, my whole body shaking. I felt nauseous, like I was going to throw up only without the relief of cleansing my system. I sat on the stairs leading down to the foyer and put my head between my legs telling myself to breathe.

"Murphy?" The sound of my name shook me out of my reverie and I lifted my head to see Tyler's mom looking at me with worried eyes. I was so preoccupied when I had passed her on the way in that I had failed to realize that she looked like she had aged about ten years since I had seen her a few days before.

"Come here," she said, extending her hand out to me. "We're having dinner in the dining room." I smiled weakly and took her hand, following her into the formal dining room that the Simms hardly ever used. Mr. Simms was already sitting at one of the ends of the table looking down at his plate with no intention of eating at all. He looked up as I sat down and gave me a weak smile. Mrs. Simms handed me a plate, but I only put a few things on it to be polite. None of us could eat; we only sat in silence for a few minutes, each lost in our own horrifying thoughts.

"I assume he told you?" Mrs. Simms asked shakily breaking the silence.

"He didn't say much," I replied taking a deep breath wondering how I could say it out loud. "He said that he's not going to..." I trailed off unable to complete the sentence. It's wasn't like I really had to; they had been thinking about it all day.

"Did he tell you what they found?" she asked in the same shaky sad voice. I wanted to tell her that she didn't have to talk about it, and that I would find out later, but my curiosity got the better of me. I only shook my head and she continued.

"They ran some tests and they found a blood clot in his brain and it's inoperable," Rose said the words slowly, like she had said them a hundred times and still didn't believe it.

"What exactly does that mean?" I asked even though Tyler had already told me exactly what it meant.

"It means that it's in a spot where if they operated, it would kill him. All we can do is prey that he'll live long enough to enjoy his life." Her eyes welled up as she looked away and so did mine. My dinner plate was growing cold, but there was no way I could bring myself to eat it, not even to be polite; we were way passed that.

The news kept sinking deeper and deeper as the silence pressed on. Tyler was going to die, not tomorrow or the next day, but much sooner than we planed, much sooner than anyone should. We would never celebrate our twenty fifth wedding anniversary, or travel the world when we retired. We had light heartedly joked about growing old together and it had seemed impossible to even think of, but now that it wasn't ever going to happen I felt a cold stab of grief radiate through my body with such force that I couldn't hold back the tear that streamed down my face.

We all sat there for a while longer, lost in our own thoughts, until the silence was broken again, this time by Mr. Simms.

"I know that this isn't the best time to bring this up," he started. Rose looked daggers at him, like she knew exactly what he was about to say and she wasn't happy about it. "But since Tyler is our only child, the Covenant will be broken if he dies without an heir."

"Mason!" Rose yelled standing up and causing the table to shake. "We've just gotten the worst news of our lives and all you can think about is continuing the blood line? I say that we should end the curse on purpose. I don't see how life would be so horrible without the addiction. You can't ask that of them!"

In her fury, Rose left the dinning, stomped up the stairs and slammed a door in the upstairs hallway. I had never seen her even close to that angry.

Mr. Simms and I were left in an awkward silence. Even though it seemed impossible, he looked even more crushed than he had moments ago. I had never been particularly close to Mason, but I wanted to comfort him. I knew he meant well and I knew that Rose was only trying to protect me from feeling obligated to do anything.

"I'm going to marry him you know," I said and Mr. Simms looked up, but didn't respond.

"I've almost always known it. I guess it's just going to happen a little sooner than we planned." He nodded his head, and looked back down at his plate, not acknowledging me when I got up to leave.

I walked up to Tyler's room, and sat down on the edge of his bed. He was still asleep and I stroked his hair out of his face. Now that I knew what was going on, I had this desperate energy. There had to be something that I could do. I sat there listening to his steady rhythmic breathing. I wasn't a doctor, but there just had to be something. It came to me out of nowhere, and I was off, practically jumping down the stairs.

I glanced in the dinning room, but Mr. Simms had left. I slid into my car and started the engine, not even taking the time to put on my seatbelt. I gripped the wheel hard, my knuckles turning white as I sped to the Danver's colony house.

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**Please Read and Review! I would also like to know if you guys like the songs that I put up on the chapters if you listen to them or just don't care lol. The songs really do set the mood if you're the kind of person who likes to listen to music while you read. Thanks to wawarddaughter for helping me out with this.**


	15. Bass Ackwards

**Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter and I hope that you enjoy it! I know people were a little sad/ upset over the last chapter, but I promise there will be plenty of Tyler in the future, but that's all I'm going to say for now. Thank you to my Beta waywarddaughter again for helping me out and also thank you to lost in pale blue and KaylaSimms1990 for being the only reviewers, it means a lot.**

**The song for this chapter is, "Your Hand in Mine" by Explosions in the Sky.- Link in my profile.**

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**Chapter 14**

**Bass Ackwards**

My car skidded to a halt almost knocking over the ancient fence that lined the property of the Danvers colony house. I approached the house, taking in the crumbling façade, still amazed that someone lived here. Gorman was aware that Kate, Sarah, Allison and I all knew about the power, but that didn't mean he was happy to see me.

I opened the door carefully, not wanting it to fall off its hinges, and was startled to see Gorman standing there in front of the stairs waiting for me.

"Can I help you?" he asked as he looked down his nose at me. I felt like I didn't belong tere, and I had no idea where to begin, so I put on a confident front.

"I need to see some books," I told him as I walked away towards the door that I knew led to the boy's meeting place, although I had never been down there myself. I reached for the handle to the basement door and pulled, but it was locked. I guess that made sense; Tyler had told me there were a lot of family heirlooms down there.

"Can you help me out?" I asked Gorman impatiently tugging at the door again for good measure.

"You won't be able to go down there," he stated, still looking at me like some sort of bug that he wanted to squash.

"But I need to," I protested with an urgency that I was trying to conceal. "I have an emergency and I need to see those books.

"When I say that you won't be able to go down there I mean that you can't. Physically you cannot pass through the threshold of that door. Only the ones with the power can, and you don't look like you have the power to me," he huffed.

I was so angry I couldn't help myself, I let loose and punched the stupid door.

"Son of a…!" I cursed and drew my hand back, cradling it. I didn't hit hard enough to break my hand, just enough to draw blood. This shocked Gorman and he took a step back looking slightly more concerned than he had moments ago.

"Is there something wrong with one of the Sons of Ipswich?" he asked in a softer tone.

"Tyler's sick and I thought…" I trailed off thinking that it was better to keep my mouth shut. "I have to go," I said stepping around him and heading for the front door.

I sat in my car for a moment just breathing. There had to be something in one of those books down there that could save him, there just had to be. What was the point of having the power if it couldn't even save him?

I threw my car into reverse and sped out of there, coming to a stop on the old Ipswich Bridge when I realized that my hand was still bleeding. Looking at my hands I saw the nearly invisible scars that plagued the once smooth skin of my palms and grew more hopeful. If Pogue and Reid could heal my hands couldn't they heal Tyler too?

I wrapped my bloody hand in an old t shirt, got out of the car. Perching on the hood I looked out into the darkness over the Ipswich River, focusing on a still light out on the water. On this darkest day, there was still a glimmer of hope and I was going to hold onto it for dear life.

Sitting for a few more moments, I convinced myself that it would be alright, that I would get my twenty fifth wedding anniversary and that this day would just be a bad memory and one that we could forget. Although there was still a massive shadow of doubt clawing at the back of my head, I felt much calmer than I did when I resorted to the act of violence back at the colony house, and I felt ready to head back to Tyler's.

I pulled up to the house as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb anyone out of a sleep that was no doubt hard to get to. Creeping up the stairs, I pushed Tyler's door open slowly. He was in the exact same spot I had left him in, looking peaceful and perfect. I went into his conjoining bathroom to brush my teeth and change into one of Tyler's old t shirts.

He opened his eyes as I slipped into the bed and offered me a small smile as if everything was normal and he had forgotten the events of the day. I wished that I could forget too and just lie there with him like everything was normal. I curled into him and he kissed the top of my head.

"Everything will be alright," he murmured softly into my hair.

"I know," I responded closing my eyes and trying to get some much needed sleep.

I woke up the next day alone. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was two-thirty and that I had missed an entire day of school, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Slipping into some clothes that I always left in Tyler's room for when I slept over on the weekends, I left the room looking for Tyler. I saw him coming through the front door as I descended the stairs and was surprised to see him wearing his school uniform.

"Did you go to school today?" I asked as he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, I didn't want to spend the whole day sitting around wasting time considering I don't have that many left," he said smiling. It was a joke that I didn't find very funny, but I didn't say anything.

"I would have gone with you of you woke me up." I didn't want him to have to go to school without me after how he felt yesterday.

"I tried to wake you up but you were passed out," he stated, glancing at my hand. "Hey, what happened?" he asked taking my hand in his and examining the blood spotted cloth.

"Nothing, I just slammed my hand in my car door," I lied. I didn't want him to know I was upset enough to hit something.

"Here," he said unwrapping the cloth on my hand and rubbing my cut up knuckles. His eyes flashed black, and in instant they were clear blue again, but my hand was completely healed. I snatched it away.

"I don't want you using like that, especially on me," I scolded.

"It's okay," he assured me.

"No it isn't. I don't want what happened yesterday make you think that it's okay to just use whenever you want. It still has consequences and I'm sorry if I don't want my boyfriend to turn into a wrinkly old man," I snapped. He didn't deserve that and I immediately regretted saying anything. "Look I'm sorry, but we really need to talk about yesterday. It doesn't have to be today, but it needs to be soon because I'm freaking out here," I confided.

"We'll talk tonight, I promise," he assured me. "After dinner at the dinning hall with everyone. I want to act normal for a few days because I'm not ready to tell my brothers yet." His face dropped at the thought; telling them would probably be one hundred times harder than telling me. They all shared a special bond and it was like he had to break three hearts at once.

"I'm heading back to the dorms now if you want to come with me, we can just take my car," he informed me. "I told Reid that I would hang out with him tonight, but I'll blow him off if you think you'll be too tired by the time we get back from playing pool."

"No, it's fine. Go have fun, I have work to catch up on anyway so I'll be awake." He deserved to have a normal night with his best friend. "Let me just get my stuff." I went up stairs and collected my over night bag, haphazardly throwing things into it. I felt like my mind wasn't big enough to hold all of my thoughts.

We rode to the dorms in silence, just holding hands. There was a big talk ahead of us, and we both knew that, so I just wanted to enjoy the silence while it was still peaceful. He walked me to my door like he always did.

"Walk me to dinner?" I asked.

"Of course," he responded. "I'll be here at five."

"I love you," I said as he kissed me on the cheek.

"I love you too," he said back, giving one last kiss before heading over to the staircase.

I walked into my deserted room feeling empty and exhausted, although I knew that I would never get to sleep tonight. Opened up my bag, I started to unpack. I pulled out a sweatshirt and something hit the floor, sliding under my bed. I crouched down and picked up my container of birth control pills. Holding it in my hand I couldn't help but think of what Mr. Simms had said about providing an heir. Eighteen was no age to have a baby, but I couldn't help but think about it. Everything in my life had been flipped ass backwards and things that mattered to me before just didn't seem as important.

It came down to me wanting to marry Tyler. I thought we would get married when we graduated college and we wouldn't start a family until we were in our mid twenties. All of that changed so quickly, that I felt like I needed to do something drastic just to feel like I was making progress in my life. I wanted to go to Harvard and get my education, and my degrees, but I wanted Tyler too, and I wanted him more than all that. All of those things would be meaningless if I didn't have him too. I still wanted all those things, but they could wait; they would always be there, but Tyler wouldn't.

I turned the wheel of the container, listening to the clicking noise as it came full circle and I made my final decision. I walked into the bathroom and dropped the pills unceremoniously into the trash. This was where my life was going, and despite everything, I smiled. There would never be anyone else but him and that's the way I wanted it to be.

Tyler arrived at my door five o'clock sharp as promised. I knew without him telling me that we had to act like our usual cheery selves, and it seemed like an easier task than it did earlier that day since I'd had the chance to mull things over.

We chatted with everyone. Kate and Sarah were starting to pack up their room already because they were so excited to move into the new apartment. Pogue was talking about some new part he got for his bike, and Allison, who regularly snuck into the Spencer dinning hall, told us a story about how ridiculous Reid was being to a guy who had flirted with her earlier that day while Reid just sat back and chuckled. They were all perfect and happy, and that made it easier to pretend. It was almost too easy, except for Caleb who was trying to catch my eye in silent communication. I knew he was waiting for me to give him some indicator that would tell him the current situation, but I wouldn't give him anything. Tyler had already made it clear that he wasn't ready to tell everyone, and I would honor that.

After dinner Tyler went off with Reid and I headed back to my dorm to try and get some homework done. I was grateful that Keira never stayed in the room anymore. I didn't think that I could handle her in my current state.

After what seemed like an eternity, there was a knock on my door, and Tyler entered smelling like stale cigarette smoke.

"It smells like you took the whole bar home with you," I joked stupidly. I turned my desk chair around, but made no move to get up as he sat on my bed facing me.

"Look," he began seriously. "I know that this is hard and scary and I also know what my dad said to you, and I don't want you to feel obligated or feel like you owe me anything." He leaned forward and took my hands in his. "I know you have plans and dreams, and just because mine changed, doesn't mean that yours have to change too." His voice was shaking and I could tell that he had rehearsed this speech.

"Don't tell me that you're trying to break up with me for my own benefit." I knew he was saying this because he loved me but I couldn't help but be a little angry.

"Like I said earlier today, I love you and there is nothing that could tear me away from you at this point. The truth is, you bring out the best in me and I would be lost without you," my voice softened as I saw tears brimming in his eyes, which brought tears to my eyes because Tyler never cried.

"This may sound a little forward, but I want to marry you Tyler, and that's still going to happen, it's just going to happen a little sooner than we planned. We can still do everything that we want." I got up and crossed the room and he took me in his arms kissing me gently. We lied back on my bed together staring at the ceiling with out fingers intertwined. I had never spilled my heart out to him like that because an old part of me didn't want to feel vulnerable, but now I didn't care about that, I just wanted him to know how I felt.

"Are you scared?" I asked him softy.

"Yes," he stated, "but not so much anymore. I just needed yesterday to feel sorry for myself, but I still have five years so there's no sense worrying about it every second of every day." I waited a moment before asking him the question I had been dying to ask.

"Do you think there's something in the books at the Danvers colony house that could help you, or maybe save you?" I held my breath waiting for an answer. He sighed deeply before answering.

"The power doesn't work like that. It can't save me from certain death." I sat up quickly to face him and held out my palms.

"But the power helped me," I countered. "It healed my hands." He let out another sigh taking my hands he sat up slowly, running his fingers over my scars.

"You still have the scars though. The power helped you heal faster, but you would have eventually done that on your own." he saw my face drop in confusion and disappointment. "I know it's hard to understand and it seems stupid, but the power has limits. It's one of the first things our father's taught us. If it didn't have limits like aging and death, there would be nothing stopping us from living forever and that goes against nature and the laws of the Covenant."

"But it's also against the laws of the Covenant to will your power away and Caleb's father did that. Why couldn't we find a way?" I asked desperately. Rules could always be bent if you were desperate enough.

"I know this is hard Murph, but trust me. If there was a way to cure this, I would do it in a heartbeat, but there really isn't a way to save me using the power. It would be a lost cause." I didn't want to fight him anymore, but I knew that I needed one of the son's to get into the meeting place. I wasn't giving up until I was one hundred percent sure that there was nothing that could be done to save him. I was going to read every one of those books relentlessly cover to cover. I didn't want to fight with him right then, so I lowered myself back on the bed.

"I just love you too much to accept your fate," I stated looking into his blue eyes as the hovered above me.

"I would do the same for you," he said kissing me, "But I just don't want you to get your hopes up." I was done talking for now, and nothing he could say would stop me from wanting to try. I pulled him closer and kissed him as passionately as I could, never wanting to let go.

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**Please please please review!**


	16. Sink

**Hey everyone! **

**IMPORTANT! The point of view does change a few times. It starts off normally then it goes to third person for the rest of the chapter with POV from Tyler, Murphy, and Reid.**

**Thanks to my Beta waywarddaughter for being a champ and helping me out.**

**The song for this chapter is Celestica by Crystal Castles – Link in my profile.**

**Chapter 15**

**Sink**

The next morning came swiftly and as I stretched my arms over my head, I realized that I was alone in the bed. Looking over to the other side of the room, I saw Tyler with his back to me. He turned around, and his eyes went wide.

"You're not supposed to be awake yet," he said playfully, "Go back to sleep."

"What are you doing?" I asked. He looked happy and I had to admit it was contagious. I felt lighter than air as I swung my feet over the side of the bed and strode over to where he was standing.

"Go back to bed," he repeated trying not to laugh as I came closer. When he saw that I wasn't listening to him, he held me at arms length. "At least go and sit back on the bed." I decided to obey because the glimmer in his eye told me that he was up to something. I sat back on the bed in my oversize t shirt and looked at him questioningly.

"I was going to make this a little more romantic, but since you decided to wake up a little too early, I guess now will have to do." He came around my side of the bed and dropped down on one knee. My stomach did a back flip. I couldn't breath. It seemed like time stood still and there was only us. He slowly opened up the small black velvet box and I saw the most beautiful diamond ring nestled into the fabric.

"Since you pretty much proposed to me last night," he said with a huge smile on his face, "I thought that I would go ahead and make it official. Murphy, will you marry me?" I tried to keep the ridiculous grin off my face, that I knew would mirror his as I responded.

"I don't know," I said but my mouth begged to let my smile shine through, "I'm going to have to think about it." He let out a laugh.

"Oh really?" he asked with a mischievous look in his eye. In one quick movement he swept me up and tossed me further back on the bed. He got on top of me and started relentlessly tickling me in a way that I hated and loved at the same time.

"Say you'll marry me!" he said a little too loudly for the early hour of the morning.

"Okay okay!" I said through my laughter. He stopped tickling me sat Indian style next to me on the bed. "Yes," I repeated more seriously "nothing would make me happier."

The ring he slipped on my finger was the most magnificent thing I had ever seen. The platinum radiant cut yellow diamond solitaire sparkled in the morning light that streamed through the window.

"It was my grandmothers," he told me, as he watched me examine the ring. "The yellow diamond is symbolic the the Simms family, my mom has one too." I had always admired Rose's ring and I never thought that I would ever wear one as elegant or as rare. "'The yellow diamond is rivaled only by the rays of the sun, and is worn by those who savor the superior and celebrate the uncommon.'" he recited from memory as if it were a text book article. "That's what my mom always used to tell me and I thought it wasn't all that important until I realized that it was true." I didn't think that it was possible for anyone to be as happy as I was at that moment, not even the events of the last few days could dampen my spirits.

We sat together for a few more moments taking each other in until we realized that we still had to go to school. We were up at an ungodly hour, which was new to me, so we had enough time to shower and and take our time walking down to the dinning hall for breakfast. We were the first of our group to arrive at our usual table.

I couldn't stop getting butterflies in my stomach every time I looked down at my hand and saw the yellow sparkle. I was broken out of my trance when Tyler spoke.

"I think I'm going to tell them tonight," he stated, looking down at his breakfast. I was slowly dragged back to the reality that I wanted to ignore for the day and was torn between wanting to cry for joy or sadness. I looked around to make sure that no one could hear us before I replied.

"Do you want me to be there?" I asked, not sure if it was my place to stand by his side while he told his brothers the bad news. "I totally understand if you want to tell them alone." I didn't want him to feel like he had to let me be there if he really didn't want me to be.

"I'm not sure," he said thoughtfully. "I think this is something I might have to do alone."

"Okay," I said squeezing his hand in support.

"I'll call you after though, tell you how it goes. I think I'll be spending the night at home after that."

"Do you think we should tell people that we're engaged today?" I asked. So far none of my sleepy classmates had noticed the ring. "I think it might be a little hard on everyone if they're all excited about the engagement just to be torn down when you tell them." We had skated around what to call Tyler's situation all day. He wasn't exactly sick, and to call it a condition made it seem like he had some sort of disability. That left us referring to the blood clot by vague pronouns because neither one of us wanted to say it out loud.

"I think you're right. It'll probably be better to go with the bad news then good news approach." His eyes turned black and the ring disappeared, but I could still feel it. I looked up at him in confusion. "It's still there," he explained, "But no one can see it." When I still looked confused he added, "I'm not about to take back your engagement ring Murph." Just as he finished the sentence, the rest of the group approached our table looking tired.

"What's up Baby Boy?" Reid greeted slapping Tyler on the back. Tyler didn't protest to the use of his hated nickname as he responded. "I was wondering if you guys wanted to come over my house tonight to play some pool and hang out or whatever," Tyler suggested. The boys all nodded in agreement. Caleb shot a glance my way, but I pretended I didn't see him and kept my face blank.

We ate the rest of our breakfast talking about nothing in particular. I was worried about him telling them, especially Reid. Caleb saw this coming, and I believed that Pogue could handle himself, but Reid would go off the deep end. Tyler was his best friend and Reid wasn't the most stable person.

I gave Tyler a quick kiss just like I did everyday, and headed off to class.

xXx

Tyler wrung his hands together in nervous anticipation. It was fifteen minutes until he told the guys to meet at his house for what they thought was a guys night and a few games of pool. He knew that they would be able to tell there was something wrong with him the second they walked through the door. Tension ran through him as he paced the length of the game room over and over again, wearing the Persian carpet thin with his steps.

Finally he'd had enough and paced over to the liquor cabinet that housed all of the expensive booze that his parents never really drank, but the boys helped themselves to every time they had a guys night. He haphazardly opened the bottle of fifty year old Glenfiddich whiskey and took a hearty swig, closing his eyes and letting the liquid warm him. After letting that settle, he took another one, and another. Putting the bottle back in the cabinet he took a deep breath and told himself to relax. He still hadn't thought about how he was going to tell them. Part of him wanted wait until later, but a more practical part knew that waiting would only make it harder, and only make it hurt more.

The sound of the front door opening and shutting with a deliberate click broke Tyler out of his revelry. As expected, Caleb was right on time, and he was relieved to see that Pogue was with him. It would take the attention off him, because keeping secrets from Caleb wasn't easy.

"Where's your bike?" Tyler asked trying casually to talk about anything but himself.

"It's in the shop again," Pogue sighed. "I swear that thing is more trouble than it's worth. The amount of money I've put into it..." He trailed off as the door opened again, this time slamming shut. Reid walked into the room, late as usual. He tossed a pair of keys at Tyler with a gruff, almost inaudible, "Thanks man," as he helped himself to the contents of the liquor cabinet. Tyler wanted to say something about Reid maybe rethinking his beverage choice given the announcement that was going to be made later that night, but he didn't want to blow his cover.

"Lets get this show on the road fellas," Reid said, turning around and taking a swig of the drink he'd just poured. "I'm on Pogue's team this time." Reid walked over and slapped Pogue on the back affectionately. "No offense Baby Boy, but last time we were on a team you blew it for us," he said matter of factually.

"I missed the last shot, that's hardly blowing it," Tyler hit back allowing himself to smile.

"I guess that leaves you and me," Caleb concluded handing Tyler a pool cue.

The game began as usual. Pogue made the break and they began to chatter mindlessly about their lives. It was moments like these that Tyler would miss the most; just talking. There was a certain comfort in knowing that his brothers would never be far away. They were all moving to the city for school next year and would probably all move back to Ipswich once they graduated. It was understood that they would always have to be together because of a sense of duty to the Covenant, but that was something that none of them minded. Everyone had their days when they wanted to leave this town and start over, but deep down they all knew that there was no where else in the world that they belonged.

Reid missed a close shot a swore loudly while Caleb chuckled, knocking the stripped ball Reid missed away from the desired pocket while sinking his own solid.

"I call bullshit on that one, Danvers," Reid argued, pretending to be serious. They all knew that Caleb never cheated, and even if he wanted to they would all feel him use. That's why they liked to play pool together; it kept them all honest.

"I'm not the cheater, you're the cheater," Caleb bantered back trying to hide a smirk. "You missed on purpose so you could accuse me of cheating and get the free shot."

"I would never cheat. I wouldn't even cheat death if it were looking me in the face," Reid joked melodramatically.

"I would," Tyler was surprised to hear his own voice in the air. Part of him wanted to take back the comment he had made; they would probably disregard it anyway. Another part of him was grateful that Reid had brought up death, so that he didn't have to.

"Wouldn't we all," Pogue said, but his smile receded slowly as he saw the look on Tyler's face.

"Would you like to elaborate on that?" Reid's voice was light but there was no doubt underlying concern for his best friend.

"I'm just not going to live that long, that's all," Tyler responded. He cringed at his own vagueness.

"You use the least out of any of us Baby Boy," Pogue reassured. "I don't think you have anything to worry about.

"It has nothing to do with using." Tyler took another shot knocking the eight ball with excessive force into the corner pocket. He looked at his brothers one by one. Reid looked nervous; Pogue looked concerned; Caleb looked expectant, like he was hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. "Look," he continued, "I've been missing classes and acting weird because I've been going to the doctor. I've been getting these really bad headaches ever since I hit my head at the Putnam barn and they've only been getting worse. Murphy wanted me to go to the doctor to see if anything was wrong and there is." Everything was still, and Tyler thought for a moment that the world had stopped spinning and he could take back what he said and go back to playing the game, but that was the thing about pool, it kept them honest.

"So?" Reid coaxed with fire in his eyes. He was about fifteen seconds from exploding and there was nothing that Tyler, or any of them could do to stop it. He decided not to string them along any longer and stated the facts.

"I have an inoperable blood clot in my brain and I have about five years."

In a sudden whirl of motion, Reid crossed to the bar and snatched up Tyler's keys and stormed out the front door, not even bothering to slam it this time.

"Reid!" Caleb yelled as he followed, but he was too slow; the Hummer was already backing too fast down the gravel driveway. "Shit," he said under his breath as he rejoined the others.

Pogue sunk down on one of the leather couches with his head in his hands. Caleb was the only one that was capable of speech.

"What does that mean exactly?" he asked Tyler who was leaning against his pool cue.

"For right now I just have headaches and according to Murphy I wasn't acting like myself. I'm prone to seizures I guess but I haven't had one. They gave me morphine for the headaches. The doctor said the symptoms will get worse as time goes on, and then..." He trailed off.

"Jesus, Baby Boy," Pogue said from his position on the couch, running his hands through his hair. Tyler exhaled loudly as the stood there in silence hearing the first drops of rain hit the sliding glass door that led out onto the patio.

"I need to go look for Reid," Caleb announced into the silence and Pogue stood up to go with him. Tyler had to admit that he wasn't sad to see them go. What would they talk about if they stayed?

"Yeah," Tyler agreed. "I have to call Murph," he said to no one in particular. He wanted to seem busy so they wouldn't feel bad for leaving him.

"We'll call you when we find him," Caleb threw over his shoulder as he walked out of the house, Pogue following behind him.

Tyler dropped himself on one of the couches, especially grateful that they were so comfortable. Closing his eyes, he listened to the rain running down the gutters outside, wondering what kind of damage he had done to the Covenant.

xXx

She heard it before she saw it. The screeching sound of tires against wet pavement drew Murphy to her dorm room window. The beloved black Hummer had made a too fast turn, the two right wheels lifting off the ground for a moment.

"God dammit," she swore, jumping out of her chair and tossing a windbreaker over her t shirt and leggings. Stuffing her feel into an old pair of flip flops, she grabbed her keys and made a swift exit. When Murphy got to the parking lot, she unlocked the door of her car as quickly as possible and headed in pursuit of the rogue black truck.

Murphy knew that Tyler wasn't the one driving. He wasn't the kind of person to take off in a fit of reckless road rage, but Reid was. The Hummer was no where in sight, but she had a good guess as to where it was headed. Chances were Reid wanted to be alone, and the only place to find solitude would be the outskirts of town by the old colony houses.

Her phone rang from the passengers seat and she picked up recognizing Tyler's ring tone.

"What's up?" she answered, keeping her eyes on the road.

"Caleb and Pogue just left to find Reid, he was pretty recked about everything."

"It was that bad, huh?"

"It didn't go as bad as it could have, but it was pretty horrible," Tyler confided. "I feel kind of sick to be honest."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think I found Reid," Murphy told him turning onto the dirt road that would take her over the old Ipswich Bridge. "It seemed like he was going to turn and come into the dorm parking lot, but thought better of it," she explained. "I can see the tail lights through the trees up ahead." She slowed her car down as she approached the end of the bridge, examining the truck to make sure it was really Tyler's.

"Where are you?"

"I'm near where the Putnam barn used to be," she said with a chill. Whenever Murphy drove past here, she always avoided looking at this side of the road but tonight it was unavoidable.

"I'll call Caleb and tell him to meet you there. Be careful," he warned. "He could be using and I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll be fine," she replied as chills ran up and down her spine. What was Reid really capable of? "I'll head over to your house once we take care of him, okay?" she told Tyler.

"Alright, I'll see you in a little bit,"

"Bye," she hung up.

Pulling the car over onto the shoulder of the road, she cut the engine leaving her headlights on. Murphy approached the Hummer cautiously; even though she knew that Reid would never hurt her on purpose, there was no telling what he could do by accident.

When she reached passengers side of the car, she realized that the hood was smoking and she started to panic. With one last stride, she rapped her knuckles on the window hard startling Reid, who was not hurt, but staring out into space gripping the wheel hard. Leaning over, he opened the passengers side door to let her in.

xXx

"What the hell happened!" Murphy asked climbing into the Hummer and shutting out the rain.

"I forgot to hit the fucking brake when I parked." Reid's voice was calm, but he was pale and shaking, like he was going to explode at any moment.

Reid's insides felt like someone had reached into his stomach and twisted just to see him squirm. His best friend was dying and it was his fault. He was the one who insisted they go to the barn and play hero. He was the one who sprinted out of the car when Tyler had told him to wait. If he had listened, maybe things would be different. Maybe he wouldn't have killed his best friend.

"Are you alright?" Murphy asked, lightly laying a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes were searching him cautiously.

"Do I look alright to you?" Reid snapped pulling his shoulder away. He was a mess. There was nothing to do right then except feel like shit about himself and he wanted her to leave him to it. He was already pissed off enough that he broke Tyler's car and what he really needed was a stiff drink.

"This is so fucked up," he said more to himself then to her.

"Yeah, I know," she sighed as she leaned back in her seat. He'd forgotten that she felt the same way he did, if not worse. Murphy was at the barn too and she had told all of them how guilty she felt the second she woke up. He had also felt guilty, but he didn't want his friends agreeing with him and placing the blame on him even though Tyler never would. She was braver than him then and she was still braver than him. He was acting like a child and she was trying to help him.

"How do you do it?" She looked at him puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"How are you so calm right now?"

"I've known about this for a while now, all the doctor's appointments and everything. I've had time to realize that panicking isn't helping Tyler; he needs us." She was right and he was selfish once again. He let out a deep breath and released it slowly into a moment of silence.

"Reid, do you think there's a way we can help Tyler, like in those books in the Danvers' colony house?" Murphy said breaking the silence. Reid knew that there was nothing they could do. Even though he hadn't been paying as much attention as he should have when their fathers had told them how the power worked when he was thirteen, he knew the laws of the Covenant, and cheating death was definitely something that couldn't be done. The look on her face was hopeful and he knew that she was clinging to the hope that there was a way around this. His guilt and her hope convinced him that it was worth a try. It would be something to focus on so he would go crazy and be destructive.

"I guess it's worth a shot." Her face visibly relaxed and he felt a little bad for leading her on to thinking there was something they could do. It seemed like there was no way he could escape his selfishness.

Headlights shone through the drivers side window as a car crossed the bridge.

"That's probably Caleb," Murphy said as Reid swore under his breath. His eyes went black and the Hummer rocked backwards a half a foot and the rumpled hood stopped smoking as it smoothed out.

"The last thing I need is a lecture from the manners police," Reid remarked referring to Caleb.

The Mustang pulled up next to the Hummer and both Caleb and Pogue got out while Reid and Murphy stepped out of the Hummer.

"You guys alright?" Caleb asked, coming closer to them.

"We're fine," Murphy answered for the both of them. "Pogue, you can take Reid back to the dorms in my car, I'm going back to Tyler's so I can just take the Hummer."

"That works," Pogue agreed. "Come on big guy." He grabbed Reid by the upper arm, leading him over to Murphy's Audi across the street.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," Caleb called as everyone went their separate ways. It seemed like everyone wanted to be alone just then.

* * *

**Please review! I get so depressed when no one shares the love.**


	17. Lifeline

**Here's the new chapter! I bring up a lot of family history in this chapter so let me know if it's nat all clear and I'll fix it. **

**The song for this chapter is Lifeline by Imogen Heap—Link in my profile.**

**Chapter 16  
Lifeline  
**  
The bell rang and we took our seats at the back of history class as usual. Things had been tense among the group for the past few days. After Tyler told Caleb, Reid and Pogue about the blood clot, there was an impending rain cloud that followed our every move. No one knew quiet how to deal. It wasn't like he was already gone, but there just didn't seem to be enough time.

As we sat there, Caleb tried to fill the air with small talk by mentioning the weather for the fourth time that day.

"This weekend is supposed to be beautiful. The nicest days so far this spring." He sounded like a broken record and Pogue nodded too enthusiastically, trying to act normal; like the news didn't affect him. Reid ignored us as he dropped into his seat next to Tyler. He rested his chin on his folded arms and stared at the clock with such intensity that it would have scared me if he hadn't been acting this way for the past few days. I hadn't spoken to him since we had our conversation in the hummer a few nights ago, but then again, no one had really spoken to him besides Allison. I was glad that he had her to keep him from running away which was the alternative to his silence.

Tyler looked uncomfortable to say the least. He knew that if he called them out on their strange behavior they would deny it and then act even more awkward. All he could really do was wait for this delicate period to pass and hope they would start joking and picking on him again like they always did.

I met Tyler's eyes and squeezed his knee under the table offering him a smile that held no sympathy. He didn't need any more sympathy.

Our history teacher, Mr. Turner entered the room and took his place in the front of the lecture hall.

"I have some good news for a few of you." As he said this, he looked directly at Reid. "Before the final exam, I'm offering an extra credit assignment for those of you who are interested in raising your grade. You have a week to hand in a report on a topic of local history." A murmur went through the room and the words 'Boston' and 'Fenway Park' were audible through the noise.

"By local I mean something about Ipswich or one of the surrounding towns, not the history of Fenway Park, Mr. Abbot." Aaron let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. "It cannot be anything that we have studied in this class and you may work with a partner if you wish." Before he even finished explaining the assignment I had an idea. This would be the perfect excuse to look through the old Covenant books with Reid without it looking weird that we were spending time together.

When the class ended I quickly gathered up my things and jogged down the hall to catch up with Reid, who was walking at an impressively fast pace.

"Reid!" I called, but he didn't turn around even though I knew he'd heard me. I took a few more steps and grabbed on to his shirt sleeve. He turned around quickly with an annoyed look on his face and I almost expected him to yell at me.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to work with me on the history project?" I asked before he could get a word out.

"Why would I do school work when I don't actually have to?" he replied still looking upset.

"I just figured we could kill two birds with one stone," I explained, and he looked confused. "You promised me that you would help me look in those books for something to help Tyler. It would be less weird if there was a reason why we're spending time together." I saw his shoulders slump. He knew this was coming and I could see that he regretted agreeing to help me. "I know that you have a C in history and this could really help you. We could do something on the founders and it could be really detailed and Mr. Turner would love it." I was nearly begging him now and I couldn't control the pace of the words coming out of my mouth. I needed to look at those books and I didn't think that I could postpone this another day. It was almost all I thought about; I even dreamed about it.

"I'll meet you in the dorm lobby after school." He was walking away before I'd even realized what he'd said.

xXx

Reid was five minutes late and he found me pacing up and down the length of the common room.

"I'm here, you can relax now," he said sarcastically. Some of the anger that he'd held earlier that day seemed gone and I relaxed a bit.

"Let's go." He followed me out to the parking lot and got into the passenger's seat of my car.

"Did you tell Tyler about our little project?" he asked as I threw the car into reverse.

"I told him we were working together; I just didn't tell him what the project was on." Reid started nervously clicking the button on my emergency brake and I wanted to slap him.

"What's the big deal about us looking in the books anyway?" he started. "I mean, if it were me, I would have everyone down there looking." I felt the same way.

"Tyler's sure that there's nothing we can do and he doesn't want me wasting my time and getting my hopes up. He said that it's very easy to become obsessive over the power and that reading those books will do more harm than good." Reid only shrugged like he knew exactly what I was saying even if I didn't quite understand it myself.

I took a right turn and pulled into the driveway. My yellow diamond caught the sunlight as I turned the wheel, reflecting light into Reid's eyes.

"I still can believe you're wearing that thing," he commented, but not in a rude way.

"I can't really believe it either," I replied. Tyler and I told everyone about our engagement the day after Tyler told them he was sick and we were met with bitter sweet congratulations from our friends. They knew without us saying what we were trying to do. It made the whole dying thing seem much more real.

We got out of the car and walked up to the Danver's colony house but I stopped and turned to him before we went inside.

"I think we should read the books outside," I suggested. "It's such a nice day and no offense but it's really creepy in there."

"So you want me to not only carry the very heavy books up the stairs, you want me to carry them outside too?" he asked.

"That's exactly what I mean," I dead panned back. "I'll meet you under that tree over there," I pointed to a huge willow tree that was near the water. He rolled his eyes, but opened the front door and started toward the basement.

I grabbed my beach blanket out of the back of my car and spread it out under the tree. By the time I was settled Reid was in his way over, his arms full of books. They were all different sizes and looked so old that I was afraid to touch them.

He dropped them unceremoniously onto the blanket and sat down beside me.

"Here's how this it gonna go," he started. "I figured we could start with the oldest and work our way forward because there's probably nothing recent that would help us anyway." He handed me an ancient looking smaller book and picked up one of the larger ones for himself.

"I'm going to take the spell books and you're going to take the Books of Shadows, because I know how to read the spell books and you don't."

"What are books of shadows?" I asked having no idea what he was talking about.

"They're like journals. We're all required to keep them."

"So you, Caleb, Tyler and Pogue all keep diaries?" This seemed a little funny to me. I couldn't picture any of them spilling out they're darkest secrets into a book.

"Laugh all you want, but we don't really talk about our feelings, we're supposed to write about the power," he explained. "It's how we understand it because there's no one else like us so we can only learn from each other. We can't lie in our Book of Shadows, and no one else can read it until you're dead."

"What happens if I read Tyler's?" I asked. I didn't really want to, but I was just curious.

"You'll die," he replied too calmly.

"I don't believe you."

"No," he smiled. "It will just look blank."

I opened the book in my lap and read the first page. It was dated 1658 and was written by Marcus Simms. I settled in with my back up against the tree and started to read as fast as I could while still taking in information. Marcus started the book when he was thirteen. At first he wrote about getting his power and how amazing and scary he thought it was. As he got older he wrote about the people associated with the power and about things that he had come to understand about himself and his brothers. The further along I read the more personal it became and the more I felt like I was prying into someone's deepest secrets. In 1665 when he was twenty the Covenant came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to escape religious persecution in England. He wrote about how scared they all were and how much he wished the power would just go away. If he was captured, there was only so much he could do to save himself.

Startled, I looked up when I heard Reid slam his book shut and toss it away from him. The ancient tome landed in the grass and I was about to scold him, but he spoke first.

"This fucking thing isn't even in real English!" he said, frustrated. "It's so old I can't even read half the words."

"How old is that book anyway?' I asked. I didn't think mine was that hard to read.

"I don't know," he sighed. "Twelve hundred something."

"Are there any Books of Shadows that old?" I asked thinking that he'd kept something from me.

"No," he replied, picking the book back up and thumbing through the pages in a last attempt. "They were all left behind when they crossed from England. They didn't have time so they only grabbed the important books. Apparently blessing the live stock was more important than reading diaries," he said holding up the book to me one last time before setting it down again and reaching for a new one. "You don't think Tyler qualifies as live stock do you?"

I let out a laugh relieved that Reid at least still had a little bit of humor left. I had a feeling we were going to need it.

As I moved through the books of shadows from Conrad Parry, Harrison Danvers, Thomas Garwin and Joseph Putnam I noticed that they all kept referencing a book called the Book of Ascension. As I moved on to the next generation, the generation of the Covenant that turned against John Putnam, I came across something that made me stop dead. I needed to know what the Book of Ascension was.

I put the book down and rubbed my tired eyes. Retaining as much information as I had in the past few hours had played with my head and I needed to make sure that I was on the right track. I looked up at Reid who was staring intently at yet another ancient tome, and it took me several tries to get his attention.

"Reid!" I called for the fourth time and he finally looked up as if he hadn't heard me the first three times I called him.

"What?" he asked moving suddenly toward me. 'Did you find something?"

"No," I answered as his face dropped and he sat back. "But I have a question. Have you ever heard of the Book of Ascension? Does it have anything to do with the Book of Damnation?"

"I've never heard of it," he said pulling the book I was reading into his lap. "What book is this?"

"It belonged to one of Pogue's ancestors; Andrew Parry," I explained. "I was just reading where he talked about how the Covenant had changed after they had gotten rid of John Putnam. And how the Book of Ascension, which seems like an important book was discovered missing after his death."

Reid held the book up closer to his face and his eyes were reading the delicate script very slowly. Reaching behind me I picked up one of the older Books of Shadows and thumbed through it trying to find the places in the older book where the Book of Ascension was mentioned.

"Look," I said thrusting another book at him. The entry I was pointing at was in the book of George Danvers who was from the same generation as Andrew Parry and John Putnam. "He's talking about consulting the Book of Ascension before getting rid of John Putnam to see if there is an explanation or cure for his madness." Reid took George's book and studied it as if he didn't believe what he was seeing.

"When was the Book of Damnation written?" I asked searching his face for an answer.

"Sixteen-ninety three," he said slowly, trying to puzzle this all out in his head.

"Putnam was killed in 1692," I stated. I could see the recognition on his face as he realized where I was going.

"You think that the Book of Damnation was written to replace the Book of Ascension?" he asked, and I nodded clarifying the statement.

"Why wouldn't we notice if something that important went missing?" Reid said this more to himself but I couldn't help answering the question anyway.

"Like you said before, most of these books have probably never been read."

"We don't exactly want to spend a lot of time reading about a curse that haunts us every day," Reid snapped but I decided not to fight him on it because I knew that he wasn't really mad at me. "Shit," he continued, "I don't even know how to begin to deal with this. The Book of Damnation is so important and I can only imagine what the Book of Ascension says."

"Do you think that it has what we're looking for?" I had a feeling that it did but I wanted him to prove me wrong.

"The Book of Damnation is a record of our lives and is pretty much the only useful book that we have. All the rest of this shit," he gestured behind them to the heap of spell books, "is pretty much useless because we don't do spells and we never really have. If this has happened in the past, if someone was looking for something to save someone else it would have been recorded in the Book of Ascension whether they failed or not."

"Do you think we should even bother still looking through all these books?" I asked, my moral plummeting to the floor. All of the hope that I was depending on for the last few days was sucked out of me and I could almost physically feel myself deflating.

"I think that I should stop looking at the spell books and that we should both look at the Books of Shadows for any clues about where this book could be or if anyone else has ever tried to find it." I had never seen Reid look so serious and it was scaring me.

"It's getting dark," I realized. "Maybe we should stop for tonight and clear our heads; come back tomorrow."

"Okay," he agreed. "Put these in your trunk and we'll look at them tomorrow," he said, handing me the Books of Shadows. He turned and picked up most of the spell books and entered the colony house as I got into my car. A few minutes later Reid got into the passenger's seat without saying a word. Equally as silent I started the car and headed back to Spencer.

Fifteen minutes later I pulled my car up to the curb.

"You're not going back to your room?" Reid asked.

"No. I've got a wedding to plan," I stated. He nodded and let out a small, humorless laugh as he closed the door. I pulled away from the curb and out of the parking lot, turning toward Tyler's house.


	18. Passive

**Here's a new, long chapter for you. We finally get to meet Murphy's parents in this one. I made a lot of big changes to my profile and I've posted all of the songs that I've mentioned, cars and OC's. So if anyone is interested, they're all up there. **

**I was really sad when no one reviewed the last chapter :( I went over a lot of stuff to do with family history and I'm not sure if I was super clear. When I don't get reviews, I assume that no one liked the chapter and I get discouraged and I don't update as often.**

**The song for this chapter is Passive by A Perfect Circle. It just shows that being passive can hurt too. **

**Chapter 17**

**Passive**

After all I had been through earlier that day with Reid and the Books of Shadows, it was hard to transition into wedding mode. I had half a mind to turn back, but I knew that if we didn't start now, we would end up at city hall and none of us wanted that. Besides, I could see how much this meant to Rose and I wanted her to have something to be cheerful about.

I pulled into the circular driveway at Tyler's house and noticed that Rose's car was the only one there and I was glad for it. I knew that Tyler was still at Spencer, but it wasn't him who I wanted to avoid, it was Mason Simms. I hadn't spoken to Tyler's father since the night we had dinner together; the night that all of our lives changed, and I wasn't looking forward to our next conversation.

Rose opened the door before I made it up the front walk and waved me in enthusiastically.

"I have everything set up in the dinning room," she said as she hugged me in the foyer. "This is going to be a lot more work than I thought," she continued as I pulled away. "Are you sure you don't want to hire a wedding planner?"

"It just seems to personal to have a stranger do all the heavy lifting," I answered. To me our wedding seemed like it was much more than a wedding. It was going to be a bitter sweet moment that marked the rest of our life together.

"I agree with you, but I was just making sure that you're ready to put the time in."

"I'm ready," I replied as we sat down across from each other at the formal dinning room table. There were pamphlets and books full of flowers spread out all over the table, ready to be looked at along with a laptop that was prepped and ready to go.

"Is your mother going to join us?" she asked, glancing out the window as if my mother was was going to suddenly appear on the front porch. Rose had asked me to invite my mother to this little pow- wow and I promised her that I would, but it was a promise that I couldn't keep. I still hadn't worked out a way to tell my parents about the engagement and there would be no way to do it smoothly. It was one conversation that I wanted to put off for as long as possible.

"She said that she was sorry but she can't make it today," I lied weakly. Rose looked at me suspiciously.

"Murphy, do your parents know about anything that has been going on with your life lately?" she asked point blank. Color rose to my cheeks and I didn't know what to say. If I lied she would know that I was lying but she might let it go, like she had all those months ago when my parents never showed up at the hospital. She would have to know eventually anyway so the truth seemed like the best way to go. I exhaled.

"No. They haven't always been very understanding of certain things," I said, tip toeing around the fringes of my explanation.

"Tyler told me that you aren't very close with your family," she stated. I would have some words with Tyler the trader later.

"That's right," I clarified. "The only member I was really close with was my grandfather, my father's father, but he passed away about a year ago. I have a few cousins that I see during the summer in Ireland but I don't speak to them very often. I guess I haven't had a real conversation with my parents in a few years. In fact the last conversation I remember having with my mother she was drunk and I believe she called me a leach. She said I could have all the money they had to give so I could maybe make something of myself."

"That must have been hard for you to hear," Rose said sympathetically.

"It was at first because I believed her until I realized that she's the one that let me down. Maybe I screw up sometimes but I didn't do anything to deserve that. It took me a long time to figure that out and I don't really care to speak to my parents."

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that, but I don't feel right about you not telling them," she reasoned.

"I'm going to tell them, I just know that it will be bad."

"As long as you do it at some point." I nodded in response and tried to busy myself with a book filled with different flowers. I never talked about my parents to anyone. Tyler only knew what he had to know; that I had a credit card with my fathers name on it and that I couldn't put my finger on the last time we had spoken. Kate, Sarah and Allison didn't know anything at all. I could feel my eyes well up with tears but I pushed them back. This was a happy moment. I was getting married and I wasn't going to let the cloud of my parents darken my heart any longer.

Rose understood that I was done talking and she picked up a flower book of her own, flipping through it and marking the pages she thought were worth showing me.

"I think I found it," I said, getting her attention after about twenty minutes of browsing.

"Let me see," she said excitedly, moving to the chair next to me.

"This one," I pointed. "The Hydrangea. I really like the blues and the purples." Rose nodded her head.

"I think it's perfect. Hydrangea's represent perseverance and I think we all need a little bit of that right now." I nodded in agreement. They were perfect.

After we discussed a color scheme to go along with the flowers we decided to call it a night. It was late and all I wanted to do was get back to my dorm, lay in my bed and think about the Book of Ascension.

As I was leaving, I turned to face Rose.

"I think I'm going to take a ride and go see my parents tomorrow." A look of shock came over my own face. I had no idea where that came from. Fifteen seconds ago I had no intention of telling my parents anything. Ever.

"I think that's a great idea," Rose said, walking me to the front door. "Breaking news like this in person is always the best I think. It will be a lot for them to take in."

"I'm going to ask Tyler to come with me. I want him to meet them so he can see what he's getting himself into." It was a weak attempt at humor on my part considering there was nothing funny about my parents. Rose laughed anyway.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" she asked, hugging me.

"I think so. After we get back, maybe the three of us can talk about where we're going to do this thing so we can pick out a date."

"It's a plan then. Drive safe, sweety."

I turned and gave one last wave before getting into my car. Before I started the engine I took out my phone and sent a quick text to Tyler.

_Meet me at my room at 8 tomorrow. We're going to see my parents._

I read it over, and then hit send. Leaning back in my seat I closed my eyes and tried to picture tomorrow, but I just couldn't. I wanted so badly to throw a tantrum like a child; to text Tyler back and tell him I was just kidding, but he would see right through that. With one last sigh I turned my key and took off to the dorms.

There was a knock on my door at exactly seven fifty- nine the next morning.

"I just need to get my shoes," I told Tyler. When I woke up I forgot that today was going to be hard, until I checked my texts and saw that Tyler had sent me a message.

"_Do you still want to do this?" _it read. The answer of course was no but I had to be an adult now. There were so many things going on in my life, a little meeting with my parents should have seemed like a piece of cake. I was getting married for crying out loud.

"I'll drive if you want me to," Tyler offered and I was grateful. I didn't really like driving long distances and I couldn't be distracted while I thought about what I was going to say when I showed up on my parent's door step.

"How long is it going to take us to get to Nantucket exactly?" Tyler asked once we were settled into the Hummer.

"About three and a half hours, and we have to take a ferry." Getting home was always a pain in the butt, but it was a beautiful pain in the butt. I grew up on Nantucket Island off the coast of Cape Cod. To me it was one of the most beautiful places in the world. I missed the beaches and my own room so much that a little part of me was actually looking forward to going back.

"I've seen where you grew up, and I want to show you where I grew up," I continued reaching for his hand. I want you to know everything about me now, even the bad stuff."

Once we were on the road, Tyler struck up conversation again.

"What kind of progress did you and my mom make last night?" he asked.

"We decided on the colors. Everyone is going to be dressed head to toe in baby pink." I joked. Baby pink was Tyler's least favorite color. His faced dropped until he looked over and saw my face.

"Very funny. I actually think I would look great in a light pink tux," he joked back.

"But really," I continued. "We picked hydrangeas."

"Okay," he answered, pretending like he knew what hydrangeas were.

"They're a purple-blue color," I clarified.

"I like blue," he agreed. "Did you pick anything else?"

"I didn't really feel like picking anything else without you." I knew that he wasn't really into all the girly stuff like flowers and dresses, but I wanted him to be involved. "It's hard to pick too many things without knowing how many people we want to invite. I never really thought about how many people I actually know."

"I think it's safe to say it will be pretty small." I nodded liking the idea. "I mean, it's our wedding so we really don't have to invite anyone we don't want to."

Thinking about it, I don't think I even know that many people, at least no well enough to invite them to my wedding. The only people I could really think of were some of my cousins and I guess Mel. Tyler saw my face and took my hand.

"I don't really want to invite many people anyway," I said. I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes, gripping Tyler's hand tighter. After today, I'm not even sure my parents would be attending.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I just nervous."

"Is it really going to be that bad?" he asked. "You're getting married. So what? You're eighteen so you can do what you want. It's not like you have a drug problem or I knocked you up." I laughed a little, but my stomach was still in knots.

"I just have a feeling this is the last time I'm going to see them and I don't know whether to be happy or sad about it," I confided.

"What do you mean?"

"They always act like they're happy to see me at first, well, at least my mom does. I haven't seen my dad in a long time because he can't stand my mom. Then everything just goes bad. Like every word that comes out of my mouth is wrong. They try to use me to hurt each other. It's like a subtle slide from bad to worse." I didn't know what to say next. The story I was telling wasn't all that sympathetic; poor little rich girl can't get her parents approval, isn't exactly a huge deal considering what was happening in our lives. I needed to let them go. If they didn't want me around then I didn't want them around either. I was going to lay it all out on the table today and they could take it or leave it.

"I can't really imagine not having my parents involved in everything I did," Tyler reminisced. "I couldn't wait to move to the dorms when I was fourteen." He laughed softly at the memory. "I ruined my favorite shirt the first week of school because my mom had always done my laundry." I smiled as he continued. "I never admitted this to anyone, but I'm pretty sure I cried. My mom bought me the same shirt for my birthday that year. I secretly wanted to move back home, but I knew that would be lame no matter who my friends were."

"It was always strange to me that my friends would say I was lucky. I was a ten-year-old with no curfew," I said dryly. "At first it was cool to get a new limitless credit-card every year for my birthday, but I think I would have given anything to have my mom give me an ugly sweater I could pretend to like, or for my dad to give me birthday wackes. Instead I woke up every year in an empty house, an unmarked envelope on the cold kitchen counter with a stupid piece of black plastic in it."

There was a silence and I felt bad. There wasn't really anything he could say to that. I had clearly just made him feel bad for sharing a good memory.

"What exit is Hyannis again?" Tyler asked, glancing at the GPS.

"Exit six," I recited from memory. I always loved the ferry ride to the island, especially this time of year when the warm sea breeze was just starting to kick in.

We arrived in Hyannis and parked the Hummer in one of the lots near the ferry.

"We can walk to my house from the ferry," I insisted as we got out of the car. We ended up almost sprinting to the boat and made it on just as they were pulling up the ramp. After skidding to a halt, we dropped onto one of the benches that lined the railing of the ferry to catch our breath.

"I can't say I would have been _that_ disappointed if we'd missed it," I commented as Tyler put his arm around me.

"I would never let you hear the end of it if the star runner missed the ferry," he said, tightening his grip around my shoulders. I smiled and leaned into him, closing my eyes as the boat pulled away from the dock. My eyelids felt heavy as the boat rocked. I was just resting my eyes.

_I was on the ferry, but I was alone. There was only a dim light coming from the captain's cabin, casting ghostly shadows across the fog. Suddenly there was splashing in the water, and I crossed the deck as fast as I could. Grabbing the rope that hung on the wall, I gathered it in my hands preparing to throw it to whoever was drowning, but a hand stopped me. A man held my hand firmly back. He took the rope from my hands and flung it overboard. _

"_What are you doing?" I demanded. How could he let someone die?_

"_I'm putting things back in balance." The man was middle-aged; handsome in an aristocratic kind of way._

"_What's out of balance?" I searched his cold gray eyes for the answer, but all I could see in them was amusement. The corners of his mouth tugged up as if he was trying to hold back a laugh. _

"_The Power of course. A life for a life." Without warning, I was hit with the truth. His clothes were from another time, and those eyes- I knew those eyes. But his identity wasn't a secret; he wanted me to know him. _

"_You're John Putnam," I stated. The terror wouldn't stay out of my voice. The man only nodded. _

_Suddenly I realized that the splashing had stopped. I folded myself over the railing, trying to see through the fog. What I saw made my blood run cold. The familiar hair; the sweater I had bought him for his birthday. It was Tyler face down in the water. Dead. _

"_How is this balanced?" I shouted. "Your bloodline survived. What good is it killing one of the others? If you kill one line, the rest suffer. Even you."_

"_You are not one of them and you never will be. You will never have a son; the Simms line is ended."_

"_You're wrong," I shot back childishly. _

"_How can you be so sure when you don't even know where to start." His smirk grew wider._

"_Where is the Book of Ascension?" I demanded, taking a step closer to him. I was ready to wrap my hands around his neck and choke it out of him._

_Before I could reach him, his eyes turned black and I was frozen. Putnam vanished before my eyes. _

"_Maybe you should have asked Chase before you tried to kill him," a voice whispered in my ear. Then, an unseen force slammed against my chest. I closed my eyes as the wind was knocked out of me, waiting to be submerged into the icy water, but the impact never came. _

"Murphy." Someone was shaking my shoulders. "Come on, wake up. We're here." Slowly I opened my eyes and saw Tyler, alive and as well as he could be.

"Sorry for falling asleep on you. You could have woken me up, you know," I said as he helped me to my feet.

"You say that, but you don't really mean it," he joked. I slapped his arm playfully.

"I'm not _that _grumpy," I protested, but I knew he was right.

We got off the boat, hand-in-hand and headed away from the docks, down the main road in the village. I pulled out my phone and shot Reid a text to meet up later before I forgot about my dream.

"It's about a half-hour walk, but it's a nice one," I told Tyler as we made our way down the street with all the little shops that I'd always loved. It was just after noon, and there were tourists all around, stepping into the small restaurants to taste some famous Nantucket chowder. We walked in a comfortable silence as we passed the familiar landmarks of my childhood.

There was the lighthouse where I kissed my first boyfriend when I was nine. The tree I refused to come down from when my parents were fighting. The fire-hydrant where I 'accidentally' crashed my first car in a stupid, rebellious cry for attention. Before I knew it we were at the front gate. Without hesitation I flipped open the key-pad and typed in the code; I knew they would never change it. The gate swung open to reveal a sprawling, perfectly manicured lawn, and a house that could modestly be described as 'roomy.'

"So this is where you grew up," Tyler stated. "It suites you; it's a classic beauty." He squeezed my hand, encouraging me to walk toward the door. We reached the door and my finger hesitated over the bell; I curled my hand into a fist.

"We can leave if you want," Tyler offered. He wanted me to do this, but he didn't want me to suffer.

"We came all the way here." I rang the bell before I could think about it anymore. A few moments later, a woman in a house keeper's uniform answered the door.

"Can I help you?" she asked. She seemed like she was trying to place me; like she knew she'd seen me somewhere, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"We're here to see my mother," I told her. "Is she in?"

"You must be her daughter. Mary, is it?"

"Murphy, actually," I corrected.

"You must forgive me, I'm new," she explained.

"Don't worry about it," I assured as she led us into the parlor where my mother liked to receive guests like she was the Queen.

"Murphy, what brings you here?" My mothers voice drifted over to us from the main staircase as she descended. Her Irish accent was carefully disguised; I could only hear it because I knew it was there. She always tried to fit in with the country club women; all of them could trace their ancestry back the the American Revolution. Depending on who you asked, so could my mother.

"I was in the area," I lied. I was testing her to see if she could tell I was being sarcastic; she couldn't.

"Wonderful," she said dryly, walking toward me. She placed her hands on my shoulders and leaned forward, pressing her cheek against mine. She made a kissing noise as her heavily powdered cheek brushed against mine; I could smell the gin and it was only noon. Slowly, she pressed her other cheek to my face, in a stiff European-style kiss, careful not to show too much intimacy.

"Well, sit down." She gestured to the barely broken-in French-style love seat and delicately lowered herself on the matching one across from it. "Andrea!" she called shrilly to the housekeeper. "Bring us some tea."

Tyler moved to take the seat next to me, and my mother jumped back in her seat a little as if he appeared out of no where.

"Who is this?" There was nothing friendly in her voice, almost as if she thought Tyler was some bold criminal who was attempting a home invasion in the middle of the day. This was it, I was going to tell her.

"This is Tyler," I started but she cut me off.

"It's impolite to invite strangers over the house without first informing the lady of the house," she started. "In fact, Murphy it's impolite to drop by uninvited. I have quite a few things that I need to do today. You can't just come here and expect me to dote on you."

"I came here to..." I tried again, but was cut off.

"Your father will be here any minute and I don't think he'll like a stranger in the house." This was unbelievable. It was hard to hold back the horrible things I wanted to shout at her, but I knew that would be counterproductive. I couldn't act like a spoiled brat to get back at her because there was no way I could win that way. I wanted to leave here with self-respect. I took a deep breath.

"He's not a stranger; he's my..." A car door slammed in the driveway and my stomach knotted.

"Your father's here," my mother stated. She picked invisible lint off her shirt. "For goodness sake. Sit up strait, Murphy! You're gone for a little while and you've forgotten all your manners. It's like you traveled here just to spite me." I didn't move.

My mother was the face that I dreaded seeing because I didn't think there was really a chance that my father would be around. He was prone to talking "business trips" that span months. I couldn't even remember the last time I saw my father. Is could have been last Christmas, or it might have been the summer before that when he was in town for a golf tournament. It was even harder to place the last time we spoke. It might have been the time I crashed my car two summers ago, if that could be counted as a conversation; it was mostly him yelling and me trying to pretend like it didn't hurt. I guess I hadn't really spoken to him since I went off to Spencer. I promised that I would do my best, but I guess he never really cared if I did well or not as long as I wasn't around.

As much as my mother pretends, everything is perfect, the truth is my parents hate each other. It's been that way since I can remember. They were too wrapped up in their own misery raise me right and I was too pissed at them act decently. It would be ignorant of me to say that there was nothing I could have done to make it better, but I shouldn't have had to do anything.

As I got older I started to look like them. My father couldn't look at me without seeing my mother's bone structure, and my mother still couldn't look me in the eye because they're the same shade of green as my father's.

My heart dropped as the front door opened and his footsteps sounded in the marble foyer. The tell-tale tinkering of ice hitting the crystal whiskey glass from the sidebar next to the main staircase. I held my breath as he rounded the corner and stepped into the parlor. His eyes widened slightly when he saw me.

"You didn't tell me our daughter was coming by today," he said to my mother.

"I didn't know she was coming, Patrick." They were talking about me like I wasn't in the room. Tyler was standing behind me and I could only imagine that he was too terrified to move. My father was imposing; all designer suits and creases.

"You were probably too drunk to remember. God only knows what goes on when I'm not here, Carol." This was familiar. They had been having the same fight since I could remember. Like clock work, my mother answered.

"Well, I can only imagine what you get up to while I'm here doing everything for _you_." The fight would go on in a vicious circle if I didn't step in.

"Mom, dad," I interrupted. This time I was going to say what I came here to say even if I had to talk over them. "This is Tyler," I continued. They stopped for a second and looked at Tyler like they hadn't realized that the stranger would come up in conversation.

Tyler moved toward my father, hand outstretched and my father took it, more out of habit than politeness.

"We're getting married," I stated bluntly. There wasn't any other way I could phrase it to skip around the truth for a few more seconds. It was what it was; we were getting married and now they knew. Instantly the panic that had been clutching my chest released.

Silence.

"Don't be ridiculous," my mother said after a few moments. "If this is some kind of cry for attention..." she trailed off. My father still had Tyler's hand in his, too shocked to move.

"You can't get married." My father finally dropped Tyler's hand. He backed away from him as if he had some sort of infectious disease. "You're only seventeen and I won't let you."

"I'm eighteen, dad. My birthday's in February, it's April." I wasn't all that surprised that he'd forgotten how old I was. "I can make my own decision."

"You can't so this. I forbid it." He took on the tone that made my blood run cold when I was younger, but now I didn't really care. I didn't have to do what he told me anymore.

"I didn't come here to ask for permission; I came here to let you know."

"I didn't pay all this money for you to get one of the best educations in the country, just so you could throw it away, marry some boy, and become a clone of your mother." I looked over to my mother who cringed at the comment, but said nothing.

"Look, you can come to the wedding, or you can stay here, but I'm doing it." I looked my father dead in the eyes, challenging him.

"If you do this, I'm cutting you off," he said slowly, as if I would ditch my fiancée for a credit-card.

"Fine," I said. Pulling out my wallet from my purse, I removed my black American Express and tossed on the floor. "Anything else?"

"I hope you realize exactly what you're doing," he said while looking at the card.

"I do, but since you've made your feelings on the matter very clear, I don't think I need to explain my reasoning to you." My father's eyes hardened.

"Get. Out," he said coldly.

I wasn't about to let him control me like he controls my mother.

"The Save-the-Date will be coming in the mail. By the way, I got into Harvard." With that I grabbed Tyler's hand and led him out the front door. Wordlessly we walked down the long driveway and out the front gate. Once we were off the property, I let go of Tyler's hand and leaned against the stone wall surrounding my former home. I put my face in my hands and exhaled slowly, trying to make sense of the way I felt. Relief was flooding through me and despite everything, I couldn't hold back the smile that was spreading across my face.

"I think that went pretty well," I said, answering Tyler's confused look.

"Did you just get disowned?" he asked, like he couldn't believe what just happened.

"I think so." It was over. They didn't matter anymore and I didn't owe them anything. It was over.

"Are you okay?" I could tell he wanted to smile with me, but he wasn't sure if I was actually happy, or if I was in the middle of some terrible breakdown.

"Really, it's okay. Everything will be fine." I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my forehead to his. I could move on now and focus on my new family; Tyler was my family now and all of the people we have in our lives. We had so much to deal with, and this was one less thing I had to stress over.

"I love you," he said as he moved to kiss me sweetly. We parted and I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer.

"I love you, too," I whispered in his ear. "So much."

We stood there for a few moments, relaxed and happy, until my phone buzzed in my pocket. I broke away from Tyler and pulled out my phone. It was a text from Reid.

'_Meet at my house at 8?'_

I typed out my reply and hit send.

"It's just Reid," I said we have to work on our history project later tonight for a little while." I wanted to kick myself. Here I was, feeling relieved to be free, and then I turned around and lied right to Tyler's face.

"Let's get out of here."

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	19. Over the Line

**I've updated pretty quickly for once! I was going to wait until the weekend but I finished a little early so here you are! I have a lot of concepts up in my profile, cars and OCs and stuff like that. Thanks for those who reviewed the last chapter, it means a lot.**

**The song for this chapter is In My Place, by Coldplay. There's a link in my profile.**

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**Chapter 18**

**Over the Line**

"What was so important that you needed to talk to me about it on a Saturday night?" Reid asked as I arrived at his house a half-hour late.

"It's only 8:30, and this won't take long," I assured. "It's not like you're doing anything important anyway." Reid rolled his eyes.

"I have to tell you about this dream I had," I continued.

"Seriously?" he asked. "Just because we're working together doesn't mean I want to hear about your hopes and dreams."

"It was about the Book of Ascension."

"So?" he interrupted.

"Can you shut up for just one minute so I can tell you?" I was ready to slap him. I needed to tell him about the dream before I forgot it.

Reid dropped back on the couch and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked annoyed, but gave me his full attention.

I paced back and forth in front of him, trying to figure out how to begin.

"So, I had a dream about John Putnam and he said a few very interesting things to me. He wanted Tyler to die. But what was weird was what he said right before I woke up." I stopped pacing and and sat in the wing-backed chair facing Reid.

"He said, 'Maybe you should have asked Chase, before you tried to kill him.'" Reid's eyebrows rose.

"How do you know..." Reid started, but I answered his question before he could finish asking it.

"Because I don't have vivid dreams, Reid. The one time I did, it was about Chase and that ended up being, more or less, true."

"So he was implying that we only 'tried' to kill Chase, not that we actually did?" Reid asked, scooting to the edge of the couch, putting his elbows on his knees.

"Yes, and whether it's true or not, it brings up a few points. We need to find out if Chase is really dead, and we need to find the Book of Ascension."

"I think it's time we tell the others what we've been up to," Reid said. He was right, but I wasn't looking forward to telling Tyler that I was lying to him after I said that we needed to be totally open with each other.

"They're going to be really mad," I stated.

"Yeah, but if even I'm saying that something's important, you bet your ass it's important."

"Are you saying that you think my dream was really sent from John Putnam?"

"No, of course not," he laughed. "I just agree that it brings up some stuff that we should share with the class."

"Tyler's going to be pissed," I pointed out. It took a lot to get Tyler mad, but when he was, it was icy. Mostly because he only ever got mad for the right reasons.

"He'll get over it," Reid assured. "He'll know we're doing this because we love him." I nodded.

"Look, I'm really tired, so do you think we could do this tomorrow?" I asked. I wasn't about to confront my parents and piss Tyler off in the same day.

"Fine, I have to meet Allison anyway." Reid grabbed his keys and followed me out of the house. I paused on the front porch and turned to face him. He saw my scared face, and put his hands on my shoulders.

"It will be fine," Reid said in a rare moment of compassion. I leaned into him and he pulled me closer into a comforting hug.

"That's not really true though, is it?" We didn't like to get ourselves down, but sometimes the weight of it all made me feel so heavy. If we didn't succeed, Tyler would die, and Reid and I, we would never be whole again.

"No, but we can pretend for a while," he said, letting go of me. I gave him a small smile and walked over to my car.

"I'll text you tomorrow," he promised as he got into his own car.

XXX

When I finally got back into my dorm room, all I wanted to do was flop down on my bed and sleep for a hundred years. Then it hit me. We were graduating in a week, and I hadn't even begun to pack my things. I let out a sigh and stood up surveying my messy room. There was an untold amount of laundry to do. I lifted myself up off my bed and turned on my stereo as loud as it would go while I started to pack.

XXX

My phone buzzed at five the next afternoon. It was a text from Reid and my stomach dropped. I didn't want to tell Tyler that we were going behind his back, but it needed to be done. Pogue, Caleb and Tyler needed to know what we found.

_Meet at my house at 9:30._

I pulled up at 9:30 on the dot and was surprised to see that I was the first person there. Reid greeted me when I walked in the door.

"I thought that you should get here a little early just so we're on the same page," Reid said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. We both knew the truth so I assumed we were just going to tell it like is.

"I just wanted to make sure that there weren't any details you wanted to leave out."

"Are you talking about the dream?" I asked. I was sick of him making a big deal out of the stupid dream. "Does it matter? Regardless, we decided that we needed to tell. Whether the dream is real or not doesn't really matter at this point. For someone who has magical powers, you sure are skeptical of stupid things."

Before Reid could answer the door opened and Caleb, Pogue, and Tyler walked in.

"Murphy?" Tyler asked, confused. "I thought this was a Covenant meeting, what are you doing here?" His expression was skeptical, and I could see him putting the pieces together. Before he could say anything, I cut him off.

"Before you get mad, this was my idea and I dragged Reid into it." Reid looked genuinely surprised and was opening his mouth to say something, but I spoke first.

"We wouldn't have called all of you here if it wasn't really important, but we found something," I said, looking from Tyler to Caleb. I knew Caleb would at least back us up; this was serious.

"I think she means to say that, what we didn't find concerns us," Reid countered. We made eye contact and I nodded; it was best if he took the reins on explaining this one because there were still so many things that I didn't understand.

"So we were looking through the books the other day looking for, a... you know," Reid stumbled over what to call our objective.

"A cure, Reid?" Tyler asked coldly. "Were you looking for a cure?"

"Yeah," Reid answered looking at the ground.

"I told you not to!" Tyler was looking at me now.

"Is it so crazy that we wanted to see for ourselves?" Reid jumped to my defense. Tyler was furious, but said nothing.

"We were looking through the Books of Shadows, the really old ones," Reid continued. "And we kept finding references to The Book of Ascension, but I couldn't ever remember hearing anything about it. After looking into it more, we found out that the book went missing the same year that John Putnam was killed."

"So you think that Putnam took the book before he died?" asked Pogue.

"We think that he took it because it was important, we just don't know exactly why." Reid looked around to the others.

"It obviously wasn't that important if no one ever noticed it was gone," Tyler said. I could hear the anger in his voice.

"That's the thing though," Reid reasoned. "We looked through the Books of Shadows from around Putnam's time and they all mentioned the the Book of Ascension and how they constantly consulted it. We can show you if you want." Reid moved to the side table where I hadn't noticed a few tattered books sat.

"I believe you," said Caleb. "But I just can't think of why no one ever noticed this before."

"Do you think our father's know about it?" Pogue asked.

"I can't see how they could have," Caleb answered. "I don't think any of them ever read those books. I don't think anyone has really."

"Murphy and I think that the Book of Damnation was written as a replacement for the Book of Ascension." Caleb looked surprised, Pogue looked intrigued, but Tyler looked furious. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was grinding his teeth, something he only did when he was about to snap, but he kept quiet.

"It makes sense. Putnam stole the book in 1692, probably just before he died. The Book of Damnation was started in 1693, right after he died." Caleb offered. "But why wouldn't they write that in the Book of Damnation, it just doesn't make sense."

"They probably didn't because it doesn't matter," Tyler offered. He stepped forward. "It's obviously a book about nothing, if they thought they could just replace it and never mention it again. We all know that we can't mess with nature. It's the law of the Covenant and always has been. If our ancestors wrote another book, then they included everything that needed to be included and we don't need to look for it. Ever."

"But what if the Book of Ascension has the source of our power?" Pogue asked, countering Tyler. "There are holes in our history; there are things that we don't understand. I think that we need this book even if it won't save you."

"I agree," Caleb said. "Chase knew things, spells, that we didn't know. There's no way he could have known them if he didn't have a source. His father must have had it; they much have passed it down. Where do we start looking though?"

"That brings us to our next point," Reid said, looking at me. "As lame as I think this is Murphy had a dream that raised a very good point. Where is Chase?"

"I don't know." Caleb answered running his hands through his hair. "I think about it all the time, but I don't know where to start. I feel like if he wanted to come back for us, he would have done it by now. On the other hand, he might just not be able to."

"Do you think he's dead?" I asked.

"No. I don't." There was fear in Caleb's voice as if admitting that Chase was still around was like inviting him back. "As much as I hate to admit this, we might need him. There's always been a connection among us and to Ipswich that we can't really explain. We just never knew that the fifth line was out there. I can't imagine ever being far away from here and I know you all feel the same way. Our ancestors must have picked Ipswich for a reason, and if Chase has the same pull we do, he can't be far."

"I don't want to find it, and I don't want to find him," Tyler argued.

"I think you guys need the book, regardless," I offered, but Tyler cut me off before I could continue.

"Murphy, you don't understand!" He wasn't yelling exactly, but his voice was raised. He looked sad and angry and tired. I shrunk away from him. "I asked you not to do something and you went behind my back with my best friend and did it anyway. Do you know how that makes me feel?"

"I know and I'm sorry, but I felt like I had to. I just had to see for myself."

"You think I don't know that? I know you did it because you love me, but you can't be a part of the Covenant and you can never understand this. I wanted to protect you and you knew that too. I never hid anything from you. I told you about the Power and I told you that I wanted you to stay away from it. I even told you why."

My eyes welled up with tears. I didn't know what to say. He was right and all I could do was try to justify what I did, but that wouldn't make it right.

"I'm sorry, but I did what I thought I had to do," was all I could say.

"I just want you to stop. Stop trying to find a happy ending where there isn't one." There was silence. All I could do was stare at Tyler and silently beg for him to take it back. We needed hope; it was all any of us had.

Tyler looked around at all of us with fiery eyes, his jaw set tight, before turning and leaving. I made a move to go after him, but then thought better of it. He was so mad at me right now, chasing after him wouldn't help him calm down. His car door slammed and the engine roared before any of us spoke.

"Are you okay?" Caleb asked me. I held back my tears.

"I'm fine. I was expecting that." This wasn't about me. Reid and I had discovered something that was important and they needed to decide how to deal with the information, not me. "I just wanted you guys to know what we found," I offered weakly.

"It's okay," Reid said, putting his arm around me. "He'll get over it." I nodded. I knew he would forgive me eventually, we were getting married after all. But that didn't make me feel any better.

"Look, I'm going to head out," I said. "It told Sarah I would meet up with her later tonight, so I'm just gonna go." Tyler wouldn't want me to stay; he was right, I wasn't part of the Covenant and I never would be. Our child would be though, and I needed to know everything about the Power. But tonight wasn't the night.

"Drive safe," Caleb said as I walked out the front door. Once I was outside, I took out my phone and dialed Tyler's number, but it went straight to voice mail. The beep sounded, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything; I didn't have anything left to say. It was for the best. Talking to him tomorrow would be better.

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**Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	20. On Our Own Time

**Hey everyone! Here's a new update. This is a very Murphy/Tyler centric chapter, that focuses on the development of their relationship and how it moves from a high school romance to a marriage. Next chapter will have some magic and some more history for those of you who like that. I'm thinking of doing a few fun outtakes that take place in this time frame if I can. One about the fight Reid and Tyler have, and one about the horrors of shopping for dresses. The next chapter will probably come faster because I'm really looking forward to it.**

**The song for this chapter is Push Away by Versant. There's a link in my profile.**

**Thanks to all the reviews and those of you who faved, it means a lot!**

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**Chapter 19**

**On Our Own Time**

I called Tyler the next morning, but he didn't answer. It wasn't that big of a deal, I would just see him in class later. I grabbed my uniform from my closet and threw it on. After all that had been happening lately, school seemed like a bad joke; I was glad it was the last week of class; I was ready to grow up.

When I arrived at the usual table for breakfast that morning, Tyler wasn't there.

"Have you seen Tyler?" I asked Reid as I lowered myself into the seat next to him. None of the other girls knew about the Book of Ascension yet, so I kept my voice low.

"He didn't come back to the room last night and he won't return my calls," Reid said. "I think he's just pissed at us."

"You're probably right," I sighed.

"Can you do me a favor?" I asked Caleb as we headed off to class.

"Yeah sure. What do you need?"

"Can you text Tyler and ask where he is, or if he's coming to school or something? He won't answer my calls because he's mad at me, but you might have better luck."

"No problem," Caleb said, taking out his phone. "He'll get over it. Don't worry," he assured.

"I know, but it still sucks."

Tyler didn't show up for school that day, and I got the hint that he wasn't ready to talk yet. He had every right to be mad at me for invading his privacy, but I thought this was a bit theatrical, especially for him. He showed up for school the next day, but he pretty much ignored me, which didn't go unnoticed. Sarah, Kate, and Allison were having trouble believing that we were fighting over wedding details, and I didn't really have it in me to lie to them. By the end of the week, they all knew as much as I did about the missing book and I felt a little better about it. On Thursday, Tyler spoke to me for what felt like the first time in forever.

"I know this is hard on you," he started, pulling me aside after class, "But I'm really not ready to talk about it yet."

"Tyler, we need to talk about this. Soon. It's been a week," I reasoned. I couldn't understand why he would need this much time to think things through. We weren't going to break up or anything, I was certain of that, but him not speaking to me was getting old. As much as I wanted to give him time and be sympathetic of his feelings, I was growing impatient.

"It will be soon, just not now." I opened my mouth to protest again, but he was walking away before I could get the words out. All I wanted to do was apologize and move on. Maybe he knew that I wasn't really sorry for what I did. I was only sorry that it hurt him.

I had almost reached my wits end by the end of school on Friday. Everyone was in a generally happy mood because it was the last day of classes for seniors, but I didn't feel much like celebrating. I was annoyed at this point. We had a wedding to plan. Being married meant that we were supposed to talk about our problems and solve them together.

Throwing open the door to my dorm room, I looked around at the heaps of boxes stacked all around. I didn't know what to do with all of them. They were supposed to be moved to Tyler's house and stored there until we moved into the city for school, but so far that hadn't happened. There were only a few days left until I had to leave the dorms, but with Tyler not speaking to me, I didn't have anywhere else to go.

Frustrated, I opened the box where I'd packed my workout clothes a few days before. I rummaged through the contents, not really caring that I was making a mess. Pulling out a pair of running shorts and a Nike tank-top, I changed. I grabbed my armband and strapped my iPhone to my arm, jamming the headphones in my ears. I threw my long blond hair into a ponytail and put my old Red Sox hat on my head for good measure.

The only thing I could think to do was run. The trails behind the athletic fields were finally clear of the over flow from the reservoir because of the harsh winter and new green leaves were starting to grow on the trees. Despite myself, I was happy to be outside

I started running without a destination in mind. I would run all night if I could, keeping my thoughts in a neat line. The movement calmed me, and made me feel like I was making progress even though I was only in the woods. Music blared as I picked up the pace, running through puddles and not caring that there was mud splattering up my legs.

I just wanted this to be over. Even though Tyler was sick, it would make me happy just to be able to talk to him, to hold him again. I pumped my arms faster as a hill came into view, and started the mile and a half climb up to the highest point in Ipswich. I hadn't spent this much time away from him since Fall Fest and it was really bothering me. I would be mad at him if I didn't miss him so much. I knew I was wrong, so why couldn't he just forgive me?

I made it to the top of the hill and paused by the foundation of an old mansion that once belonged to the Garwin family. My phone buzzed and I ripped it out of my arm band quickly. Tyler's face popped up on the screen. I'd caught him off guard with my camera and he looked so ridiculous that I couldn't help but smile when I saw the picture, no matter how upset I was with him. He didn't even ask me to delete it, knowing how much it made me smile. I waited for the phone to buzz a few times before I answered, so I wouldn't seem too eager.

"Hello?" I answered, like I didn't know who it was.

"What are you doing?" he asked. His voice was a little strained, but he didn't sound angry anymore.

"I'm just out for a run," I answered, pacing around in the sun.

"Can you come over? My parents are out and we need to talk." It would take over an hour to run back to campus, shower, and drive over to his house and frankly, I didn't want to wait that long. I was closer to his house than I was to campus anyway.

"I'll be there in fifteen." I answered before hanging up. I didn't want to talk to him over the phone anymore.

I continued on a path, opposite of the one I came up on, taking me down the other side of the hill and toward Tyler's. I couldn't help but run at a near race pace. Whether we got into another fight or we made up, I just wanted to speak to him. Fifteen minutes later, I jogged out of the woods across the street from the Simm's property. I paused, catching my breath, before walking up the long driveway. My impatience got the best of me and I started to jog up the long driveway. I saw movement in the front room, and then the front door opened and Tyler stood in the doorway. His eyes softened when he saw me, and I knew then that I was forgiven. Without hesitation, I climbed the front steps and threw myself into his arms.

He backed up into the house and he put his arms around me, lifting me up. I wrapped my legs around his torso, not caring that I was sweaty or that I was getting mud all over him. I pressed my lips to his aggressively, running my hands through his hair, as he pressed me against the wall. We were letting the horny teenage parts of ourselves get the first say, but I couldn't really find anything wrong with that. It was bliss, a perfect relief for all of the tension that had been building through the week.

He broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to mine, lowering me so my feet touched the floor.

"Hi," he said softly.

"Hey," I exhaled, letting a smile take over my face.

"You know you're not getting off that easy, right?" he asked even though he was smiling too.

"I know, but it felt good." He laughed in agreement and stepped away from me, taking my hand and leading me through the house and out to the back patio. We sat on a love seat by the pool and I leaned into him, looking into the water, imagining how wonderful it would feel against my skin. We sat in silence for a few moments.

"You do know how sorry I am, right?" I asked even though I already knew the answer. He'd said as much last weekend, but we needed to start somewhere.

"I know." He leaned away so he could look me in the eyes. "You just have to understand."

"Understand what?" I asked trying to keep the frustration out of my voice. I pulled away from him further, turning my body to face him on the seat, and crossing my legs in front of me. "I know what I did was wrong, but you know why I did it. Can you really blame me for trying?" I defended. By the look on his face, I knew it was the wrong thing to say, but I didn't want to take it back.

"It's not about motives. I asked you not to because it's bad. The power is bad and that's the only way I can see it. It's like being born with a drug addiction that you can never escape. Not only do I have to deal with this, but so do my brothers and my father and my son one day. My mother even has her nose in it, and it bothers me. _You _are the only thing in my life that is free and happy. Even with everything going on, you were still outside of it all, helping me in the only way I wanted to be helped. You were there for me and that's all I wanted." He paused, meeting my eyes and I couldn't deny the pain that was there.

"I know what you were trying to do and I know I can't be mad at you for caring about me, but I still don't want you to be tainted by the curse. There really isn't anything that can be done. If there was, the boys would have done it already. Without you."

"But we found something important. There's a book missing. Doesn't that count for something?" I argued.

"Not to me. There is nothing we could learn from that book that would make any difference. It's been gone for hundreds of years and we've gotten on just fine without it."

"Aren't you curious?" I asked. I couldn't wrap my head around his reasoning. If there was more information, why didn't he want to know it?

"To be honest, it's hard for me to be curious about anything at this point." His words were like a stab to my heart. Of course I couldn't understand him. None of us could because none of us were dying.

"I understand what you mean, but I can't accept it. We'll have a son one day and you'll be gone before he turns thirteen. He'll have to go through all this without you, and he'll only have me. I need to know everything that you know so I can be prepared for when he comes asking me questions." It was hard to say out loud, but there was no way to tread around it this time.

"He'll have Reid, Caleb and Pogue," Tyler countered.

"Yeah, and that'll be great, but he'll need me too. He'll be the first and he won't have what you had. None of the others are trying to get knocked up just yet as far as I know." Tyler inhaled sharply and I remembered that I'd never actually told him about the conversation I had with his father, or the fact that I was no longer on birth control. He knew it, but it still made him uncomfortable.

"The more we talk about this, the less fair it seems," he said, his face falling as he took my hands in his. "This whole Book of Ascension thing really just put me over the edge. This is so fucked up, Murph. You know that right? Life shouldn't have to be this complicated. We should be having the time of our lives right now, not planning a wedding, a birth and a funeral."

"Look," I said, taking his face in my hands and stroking my thumb across his cheek. "I love you and this is our life. We have to make it work, or what else is there?" He sighed again, leaning closer to me, closing his eyes.

"I'll let you be involved in the book thing, but promise me, no more secrets. It's not like you can get to the books without me anyway."

"I can always get Reid to help me again," I countered lightly.

"Reid won't be helping you with anything anymore. Trust me." He let out a small laugh at a memory that I could only imagine had something to do with the black eye Reid had been sporting the past few days. When I asked about it, he started in on some graphic detail of his and Allison's sex life, but I cut him off; I didn't believe him anyway. "Promise me, we'll do this together from now on?"

"I promise," I said, moving my face closer to his and sealing my promise with a kiss. He smiled against my lips, before pulling away.

"We have a wedding to plan, and I'm pretty sure my mom wouldn't be too happy with all the mud you'll track into the house." I rolled my eyes at him, eying the water again.

"You just want to see me naked," I said, while he shrugged his shoulders.

I stood up, and jumped into the water, fully clothed, making sure to splash him on the way in. The water was colder than I expected, but it felt better than I could have imagined. I stayed under water for a few seconds, letting the mud wash away. I swam toward the stairs before surfacing.

When I climbed the stairs, Tyler was waiting for me with a towel from the pool house. I took off my wet tank top and shorts, aiming them at Tyler. He dodged them gracefully. I exited the pool in my bra and underwear and he wrapped the towel around my shoulders as we headed toward to house. I left my clothes outside, letting them dry in the late afternoon sun.

I entered the house and he reached to close the sliding door behind him, turning to me with a mischievous smile on his face. I knew that smile all to well and I had to admit that it made my knees go weak. He crossed the room to where I was leaning against the bar with the towel wrapped under my arms. Putting his hands on my waist, he pulled me closer, taking my bottom lip in his, and kissing me slowly. I was so frustrated with him, I forgot how much I missed touching him.

He moved from my mouth, to my cheek and kissed his way across my jaw, to my ear, and down my neck, just the way I liked it. I pulled him closer, running my hands through his hair, tugging on it lightly. My towel dropped to the floor as his hands ran up and down my sides, lightly grazing my ribcage. Without warning, he took my by the hips and lifted me onto the bar. I let out a laugh and wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him to me, giggling into his ear like a schoolgirl. Things were about to get heated, when we heard the tell-tale sound of a car in the driveway. Rose was back.

My legs loosened around him and dropped against the counter. Tyler groaned and rested his head on my collarbone in defeat.

"Perfect timing," he mumbled against my skin, placing one last kiss on my neck before pulling away. I slid off the bar, picking the towel up off the floor and wrapping it around me. I darted outside, and picked up my now damp clothes and pulling them on quickly. I reentered the house and sat down at the table before Rose entered the house. Of course she knew that we were intimate, but it was still awkward to be caught in a compromising position, so we avoided it at all costs.

Tyler had the wedding planing stuff spread out in the table and I pulled the folders and catalogs toward me as Rose rounded the corner.

"Murphy!" she exclaimed, walking over to my chair and squeezing my shoulders warmly. "I haven't seen you in a while. Is everything sorted?" She knew that Tyler and I had a fight and what it was about. He shared a lot of things with her, and she wasn't one to buy into the 'disagreement over wedding details' excuse we'd been peddling to everyone else.

"It's fine," I answered grabbing Tyler's hand across the table, catching his eye. Rose nodded and patted my shoulders one last time before heading into the kitchen.

"This is impossible." Tyler looked up from the brochure he was looking at, shaking his head. "I really don't know what I'm looking for."

"Just get rid of the ones you don't like, and go from there," I suggested.

"That's the thing, they're all just big old mansions, that happen to look a lot like this big old mansion," he said, gesturing to the house around him.

"Wait!, I exclaimed, excitedly. "I think that's the best idea you've ever had."

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Yes! If we have it here, we won't have to worry about booking a place with such short notice," I reasoned. Now our wedding had a backyard theme. Rose and I had thrown a lot of ideas around, but nothing seemed as perfect and intimate as a backyard wedding.

"But it's, like, May," Tyler stated, confused. "The last I heard, we were getting married in August."

"Yeah, in the wedding world, that's short notice," I explained. He shrugged.

"Hey, Mom?" he called through the arched doorway into the kitchen.

"Yes?" she answered, walking into the dining room.

"Do you think we could have the wedding here?" I asked. "I mean, all the places we've been looking at are old historical mansions, so Tyler suggested that we just have it here."

"I was actually kidding," Tyler said, not wanting to take too much credit for the venue. I waved him off.

"That's a wonderful idea!" Rose said, clapping her hands together. "I'll call the landscaper, now." She rushed out of the dining room and into the office to make the call.

I closed the brochure I was looking through and walked around to Tyler's side of the table. Wrapping my arms around him, I folded myself onto his lap.

"Did I tell you how much I love you today?" I whispered against the skin of his neck.

"I think you did, but I don't mind hearing it again," he pulled me closer and kissed me lightly on the lips. "But I think I'm all set with the wedding planning." I smiled.

"Are you sure? I could really use your help with fabric for the bridesmaid's dresses." He cringed and I laughed.

"Give me a lift back to school?" I asked, standing up. Rose had just hung up with the landscaper in the other room.

"Sure," he said, following me out the door. "Do you still want to go to the Dells later?" The traditional senior send-off party was tonight at the Dells. The underclassmen paid for all the booze and had to do everything the seniors said for the entire night, including being a distraction for the cops,

"Yeah, but I really need to shower before this thing," I said, fingering the strands of my hair that had long since fallen out of my ponytail.

"I'll come get you at your room later?" Tyler asked as we pulled up to the dorms.

"We're all gonna meet you guys there." Tyler looked at me funny. "I wasn't sure if you'd be speaking to me or not at this point so I made alternative plans." I had been looking forward to this party since freshmen year and I wasn't going to miss it on Tyler's account. He rolled his eyes and kissed me lightly as I got out of the car. After a quick shower, I ran over to Kate's room to finish getting ready. Sarah had been harassing me via text message since the middle of the afternoon, wondering when I would be back so we could all get ready together.

"I'm here!" I yelled, throwing open the door, skidding to a halt in the middle of the room.

"Finally!" Allison crossed the room, pushing me down into a chair in front of the vanity. The three of them were already in full hair and makeup, while I still looked like a drowned rat.

Allison started on my hair with the blow-dryer, while Kate started putting foundation on my face.

"Where were you?" Sarah asked. "I was ready to call out a search party."

"I was with Tyler," I confessed.

"Did you guys work out that wedding thing?" Sarah asked. There was something in her voice that said she didn't believe me, but she didn't push it.

"Yeah. We decided that we're having the wedding at his house." I technically wasn't lying, and I wanted to direct the subject away from fighting, so wedding details made for a smooth transition.

"That's so cool!" Kate said, lifting my chin so she could blend the makeup.

"What about the bridal party?" Allison asked.

"And you can't forget about the bachelorette party," Sarah added. "I have a few ideas that I think you'll love."

"You guys are obviously the bridal party, so get ready to try on a million ugly dresses," I joked, closing my eyes as Allison sprayed my pinned hair.

"You wouldn't dare," Kate countered. I giggled, and she held my chin firmly as she applied eyeliner to my upper lid.

"I can't believe we're graduating on Sunday," Allison commented. "And you and Tyler are getting married. Next thing we know you'll be pregnant." My body gave an involuntary nervous jolt, causing Allison to burn me with the straightener. "Ow," I reached up to grab my neck.

"Whoa, whoa. Hold on a second," Sarah said, putting down the magazine she was flipping through, giving me her full attention.

"You're not pregnant are you?" It was impossible to tell by her tone if she would have scolded me, or squealed with excitement if I told her I was, which I wasn't.

"Of course not," I assured. Allison caught me off guard with her comment. I hadn't exactly shared my intentions with them; it was a delicate subject. "I mean, I hope to be, someday." A sudden sadness crept into the air. It was easy to forget just how sick Tyler was sometimes because it didn't show. I hadn't thought about what my life will be like once he's gone. Would I ever meet someone else? Would I even want to? In their minds, I would probably never have children and their pity was palpable.

"It won't be a shotgun wedding," I said in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I think the scandal would upset the entire Spencer ecosystem." Kate let out a chuckle, which allowed me to exhale.

"I think you would skew the teen pregnancy statistic for the next ten years," Kate joked, cracking us up. She finished with my makeup and I stood up, adjusting my jean shorts and cream colored lace top.

"Ready?" I asked, grabbing my brown leather sandals and strapping them to my feet.

"Ready!" Sarah replied as they followed me out the door.

The Dells was packed by the time we got there. The music was loud and the underclassmen were running around, hands full of cups, smile despite their lowly circumstances. I grabbed one of my sophomore cross country teammates by the arm as she passed.

"Do you mind?" I asked, gesturing to my friends.

"No problem!" she said, rushing off toward the keg.

"Don't drink too much," I told her as she handed us each a red solo cup. "We're going to need someone to drive us home later."

"Sure thing!" she said, rushing off to help someone else.

"You're bad," Allison said, hitting her cup against mine and taking a sip.

"What else can we make them do?" Sarah asked, looking around. It looked like the baseball team was on fire duty, throwing wood onto the already huge bonfire. Across the clearing, Aaron Abbot was using a puny freshman as a foot rest.

"It looks like we can do anything we want," I answered. "Last year, Veronica Bergson made me trade shoes with her. Then her best friend Carly insisted that she needed to uses my car because she felt sick and had to leave, when really, she was screwing Veronica's boyfriend in the back seat."

"Ew!" Sarah yelled, giving me a light shove. "I was just sitting in there!" I shrugged, smiling as I took another sip of my drink. I craned my neck looking for Tyler and the others, and saw four figures walking toward the party from the cliffs.

"There they are." Allison waved them over. Reid gave her a nod, and grabbed a passing junior by the back of the neck and ordering him to do something.

"Hey," Tyler said, coming over and kissing me.

"I missed you," I replied cheesily. He knew I didn't mean from when I'd last seen him a few hours ago. I'd really missed him over the past week, but it was okay because I knew that I could see him if I really needed to, but it hurt because what will I do when I can't burst into his dorm room, or come home and see him. I shook the thought from my mind and let myself cuddle into him.

"I missed you to," he whispered. "I'll always miss you." I hugged him tighter, squeezing my eyes shut against the single tear that threatened to fall. Our moment was thankfully interrupted by Pogue.

"Hey!" he yelled. "It's time for shots!" Sarah whooped and Caleb chuckled as we followed him over to the shots table.

The night was perfect to say the least. The fire was bright, the breeze was warm, and I felt a sense of comradery towards my classmates that I hadn't felt in years. It was bitter-sweet. I even played a game of beer pong with Keira, and we even shared a few high-fives. The night was filled with so much laughter and dancing and love, it was hard not to feel perfectly at ease. But all good things come to an end. Eventually the fire burned out and we had to grow up.

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